P  R 

3085 

B7 

1886 

MAIN 


NOTES 


ON 


SHAKSPERE'S    VERSIFICATION 


WITH   APPENDIX   ON  THE   VERSE  TESTS,    AND  A 
SHORT  DESCRIPTIV  BIBLIOGRAFY. 


BY 


GEORGE   H.   BROWNE,   A.M. 


SECOND    EDITION. 


BOSTON: 
GINN    AND    COMPANY. 

1886. 


NOTES 


ON 


IHAKSPERE'S    VERSIFICATION. 


WITH  APPENDIX  ON  THE  VERSE  TESTS,   AND  A 
SHORT  DESCRIPTIV  BIBLIOGRAFY. 


BY 

GEORGE   H.   BROWNE,   A.M. 


,  EPITTON, 


BOSTON: 
GINN    AND    COMPANY. 

1886. 


Copyright,  1884, 
BY  GINN,  HEATH,  AND   Co. 


JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE. 


B7 


NOTE. 


THE  following  notes  were  hastily  put  together,  just  before  an  examination, 
for  the  purpose  of  supplying  my  own  pupils  with  a  concise  orderly  summary 
of  the  main  features  of  Shakspere's  Versification,  and  were  preservd  with  the 
hope  that  in  future  classes  I  might  be  relievd  of  unnecessary  expenditure 
of  time  upon  what  is  a  secondary,  but  by  no  means  unimportant,  subject  in 
teaching  Shakspere.*  A  few  extra  copies  were  printed  from  a  desire  to  share 
the  possibilities  of  this  relief  with  other  teachers,  who,  deploring  the  unscien- 
tific statement  and  chaotic  '  arrangement '  of  existing  works  on  the  subject, 
may  likewise  hav  been  forct  unwillingly  to  omit  the  subject  altogether. 
Of  course,  whatever  value  an  outline  like  this  may  hav  will  depend  mainly 
upon  the  accuracy  and  efiectivness  of  the  illustrations.  The  most  useful 
portion  of  the  little  pamphlet,  therefore,  will  prove  to  be  the  blank  pages, 
which  hav  been  inserted  for  the  reader  to  record  his  own  examples  on  and 
to  correct  any  misquotations  which  may  hav  escapd  the  very  careful  revision 
at  the  University  Press. 

G.  H.  B. 
CAMBRIDGE,  February,  1884. 

*  It  is  needless  to  say  that  I  hav  drawn  freely  from  ABBOTT'S  Shakespearean  Grammar  and 
ELLIS'S  Early  English  Pronunciation.  Further  illustrativ  matter  may  be  found  in  those 
works ;  also  in  W.  SIDNEY  WALKER'S  Versification  of  Shakespeare  (London  1854) ;  and  in 
his  Critical  Examination  of  the  Text  of  Shakespeare,  3  vols.  (London,  I860).  0.  BA- 
THURST'S  Changes  in  Shake  spear  e^s  Versification  (1857)  is  now  out  of  print.  The  student  of 
phonetics  needs  not  to  be  reminded  of  the  immense  advantage  familiarity  with  the  "phonetic 
point  of  view"  gives  a  student  of  prosody;  nor  the  teacher  of  language  phonetically,  of  the 
impossibility  of  efiectivly  substituting  arbitrary  symbols  for  oral  instruction.  Some  gain, 
however,  may  perhaps  be  made  by  following  up,  in  the  books  quoted  in  the  notes,  the  hints 
there  thrown  out.  The  best  general  work  is  SIEVERS'  Grundzttge  der  Phonetik  (Leipzig,  1881). 
The  first  chapter  of  STORM'S  Englisclie  Philologie  (Heilbronn,  1881)  contains  excellent  state- 
ments and  criticisms  of  the  best  works  on  general  phonetics  from  Merkel  and  Briicke  to  Henry 
Sweet.  SWEET'S  Handbook  of  Phonetics  (London,  1877)  is  the  most  available  book  in  Eng- 
lish. (MELVILLE  BELL  is  already  antiquated. )  The  latest  and  best  summary  of  the  main  fea- 
tures of  this  youngest  of  the  modern  sciences  is  in  an  article  by  MORITZ  TRAUTMANN,  Anglia,  T. 
688-598.  More  especially  applicable  to  the  points  brought  up  in  these  notes  is  an  excellent 
article  by  the  same  on  the  r  sounds  in  English,  in  Anglia, III.  209.  Those  who  still  look  with 
suspicion  upon  the  intrusion  of  "phonetics,"  and  shrink  from  "  phonetic  spellings"  (even  in 
''ustrations)  because  they  lack  dictionary  authority,  are  most  respectfully  referrd  to  the  New 
'iglish  Dictionary,  the  first  part  of  which  has  recently  been  publisiit. 


224614 


SHAKSPERE'S   YEKSIFICATION. 


"  The  English  heroic  verse  is  usually  stated  to  consist  of  ten  syllables : 
it  is  better  divided  into  five  groups,  each  of  which  theoretically  consists  of 
two  syllables,  of  which  the  second  only  is  accented.  .  .  .  Practically,  many 
of  the  groups  are  allowed  to  consist  of  three  syllables,  two  of  them  being 
unaccented.*  .  .  .  The  number  of  syllables  may  therefore  be  greater  than 
ten,t  while  the  accents  may  be,  and  most  generally  are,  less  than  five.J  •  •  • 
If  there  be  an  accent  at  the  end  of  the  third  and  fifth  group,  or  at  the  end  of 
the  second  and  fourth,  other  accents  may  be  distributed  almost  at  pleasure. § 
The  last  group  may  also  have  one  or  two  unaccented  syllables  after  its  last 
accent."  —  ELLIS,  Essentials  of  Phonetics,  p.  77  (1847). || 

Now  Shakspere's  Sonnets  are  remarkably  melodious,  and  conform  to  the 
strictest  rules  of  rhythm  and  metre.  The  dramatic  poetry,  on  the  other  hand, 

*  "  The  limit  of  trisyllabic  substitution  is  three  feet  out  of  five."  —  J.  B.  MAYOR,  Phil.  Soc. 
Trans.,  1875-76,  p.  412. 

t  "  A  verse  may  often  have  more  than  ten  syllables,  and  more  or  less  than  five  accents,  but 
it  must  carry  so  much  sound  as  shall  be  a  satisfactory  equivalent  for  ten  syllables,  and  must 
have  its  accents  arranged  so  as  to  content  an  ear  prepared  for  five."  — J.  A.  SYMONDS,  Fort- 
nightly Review,  Dec.,  1874. 

$  Abbott  (453  a)  states  that  about  one  line  in  three  has  the  full  number  of  emphatic  ac- 
cents ;  about  two  in  four  have  four,  and  one  out  of  fifteen,  three.  It  is  of  more  importance  to 
remember,  (1.)  that  the  first  foot  almost  always  has  an  emphatic  accent ;  (2.)  that  two  unem- 
phatic  accents  rarely,  if  ever,  come  together ;  and  (3.)  that  there  is  generally  an  emphatic  accent 
on  the  third  or  fourth  foot. 

§  "  The  true  rule,  I- suspect,  is  that  you  may  invert  the  place  of  the  accent  (substitute  —  — 

for )  in  any  group  except  the  last,  provided  you  don't  do  it  in  two  together."  —  F.  J. 

FDRNIVALL,  N.  Sh.  Soc.  Trans.,  1874, 1.  27. 

||  Cf.  E.  Eng.  Pron.,  p.  333  (1869):  "  In  the  modern  verse  of  five  measures,  there  must 
be  a  principal  stress  on  the  last  syllable  of  the  second  and  fourth  measures,  or  of  the  first  and 
fourth,  or  of  the  third  and  some  other  measure.  There  is  also  a  stress  upon  the  last  syllable 
of  the  fifth  measure,  but  if  any  one  of  the  three  conditions  above  stated  are  satisfied,  the  verse 
is  complete." 

"  Is  it  not  better  to  allow  that  three  out  of  the  five  feet  may  be  —  >-•,  without  laying  down 
the  law  as  to  the  order  in  which  they  may  come  ?  If  I  were  disposed  to  make  any  more  definite 
rule,  I  should  prefer  to  say  that  in  general  it  would  be  found  that  the  fifth,  and  either  the  sec- 
ond or  third  foot,  had  the  final  accent."  — J.  B.  MAYOR,  Phil.  Soc.  Trans.,  1876,  p.  452. 
"  The  chief  defect  in  the  rules  is  in  regard  to  the  fifth  measure.  The  general  condition  is  that 
the  last  syllable  should  not  be  weaker  than  the  preceding  syllable  or  syllables,  and  that,  when 
it  is  actually  weaker,  it  should  be  at  least  longer  or  heavier."  —  ELLIS,  ib.  p.  464. 


is  naiur&Uy  mo^e  irr?gv-l^r  and  cjivernfied ;  for  here  the  monotonous  recur- 
rence of  a  uniform' ten-syllaDle  line' with  five  regular  accents  would  be  par- 
ticularly inexpressive  and  offensive.  The  masterly  art  and  delicate  ry  thmical 
feeling  with  which  Shakspere  avoided  this  monotony  make  him  the  most 
musical  of  all  writers  of  blank  verse.  Of  course,  the  most  truly  characteristic 
features  of  his  inimitable  rythm  defy  analysis ;  but  for  the  very  reason  that 
Shakspere  was  so  sure  a  master,  he  did  not,  in  his  self-sufficient  independence 
of  metrical  restraint,  arbitrarily  ignore  all  metrical  laws.  "  Shakspere  never 
mangles  the  type  of  his  blank  verse,  consequently  in  every  line  five  rythmic 
accents  are  always  present  or  accounted-for :  and  it  is  in  his  method  of 
'  accounting-for  *  them  that  Shakspere's  mastery  is  so  apparent,  for  it  is  the 
method  of  common  speech,  and  his  verse  forever  crowds  the  firm  fabric  of  the 
type,  as  a  canvas,  with  all  the  rythmical  figures  of  every-day  utterance." 
(SIDNEY  LANIER,  Science  of  English  Verse,  p.  215.)  But  the  every-day  utter- 
ance of  Shakspere's  time  was  in  many  particulars  very  different  from  our 
common  speech.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  realize  something  of  the 
changd  conditions  of  accent,  pronunciation,  etc.,  of  Elizabethan  English  be- 
fore we  can  approach  the  subject  of  rythmic  versification  intelligently.  Of 
these  diversified  conditions,  the  following  may  be  mentiond  as  contributing 
most  to  the  variety  and  beauty  of  Shakspere's  dramatic  verse :  —  1.  The 
csesural  pause.  2.  The  place  of  the  accent.  3.  Many  syllables  are  con- 
tracted, now  uncontracted.  4.  Many  syllables  are  expanded,  not  now  allow- 
able. 

I.   CAESURA. 

1.  The  accent  after  a  pause  is  frequently  on  the  first  syllable. 

Feed  and  regard  him  not.     A're  you  a  man  ?    Mcb.  iii.  4.  58,  et  seep. 
Particularly  at  the  beginning  of  the  line. 

Rumble  thy  be*lly  full !     Spit  fire !     Spout  rain !     K.  L.  iii.  2.  14. 

2.  An  extra  syllable  is  frequently  added  before  a  pause,  especially  at  the 
end  of  a  line.* 

'T  is  not  alone  my  inky  cloak,  good  moth-er.     H.  i.  2.  77. 

We  '11  have  a  swashing  and  a  martial  outside.    A.  Y.  i.  3.  122. 

For  mine  own  safeties ;  you  may  be  rightly  just.    Mcb.  iv.  3.  30. 

For  goodness  dares  not  che'ck  thee  ;  wear  thoii  thy  wrongs,     fb.  iv.  3.  33. 

With  all  the  honors  on  my  brother :  whereon.     T.  i.  2.  127. 

The  extra  syllable,  however,  is  rarely  a  monosyllable  :  — 

*  Strictly  speaking,  there  is  no  such  thing  in  rythm  as  a  really  "  extra"  syllable ;  what- 
ever time  value  there  is  in  the  bar  is  distributed  among  all  the  sounds  in  that  bar,  whether 
they  be  one,  three,  or  none,  —  that  is,  rests.  For  the  identity  of  this  variation  with  Chaucer  a 
verse,  see  page  33,  Ex.  (4) ;  and  cf.  p.  31,  note. 


Cromwell,  I  charge  thce,  fling  away  ambf tion : 

By  that  sin  fell  the  angels;  how  can  man,  then, 

The  image  of  his  maker,  hope  to  win  by 't?    H8  iii.  2.  441.* 

3.  Two  extra  syllables  are  sometimes  allowd,  if  unemphatic,  before  a 
pause,  especially  at  the  end  of  the  line.  (These,  however,  are  usually  con- 
tracted (cf.  III.  5,  6,  7,  etc.,  below) ;  there  are  of  course  but  five  accents. 
Vid.  2,  note,  and  cf.  V.,  below.) 

Look  where  he  comes !  not  poppy  nor  mandragora.     O.  iii.  3.  330. 

Is  not  so  Estimable,  profitable  neither.     M.  V.  i.  3.  167. 

Peruse  the  letter.    Nothing  almost  sees  miracles 

But  misery.     K.  L.  ii.  2.  172 ;  Ib.  i.  1.  225. 

I  dare  avouch  it,  sir;  what,  fffty  followers  ?    Ib.  ii.  4.  240. 

As  you  are  old  and  reverend,  you  should  be  wise.     Ib.  i.  4.  261. 

Age  is  unnecessary  ;  on  my  knees  I  beg.     Ib.  ii.  4.  157. 

So,  manacZes,  Cor.  i.  9.  57;  ve"r%,  Ib.  v.  2.  18;  jfalousy,  H5  v.  2.  491;  re'com- 
pense,  T.  C.  iii.  3.  8  ;  follow  her,  A.  Y.  iii.  5.  49;  dieted,  Cor.  i.  9.  52;  unmanwerfy, 
K.  L.  i.  1. 147. 

II.    ACCENT.f 

1.  Some  words,  mostly  dissyllabic,  especially  verbs,  have  the  accent 
farther  back  than  at  present.  —  ABBOTT,  Gr.,  492 ;  ELLIS,  E.  Eng.  Pron., 
930,  931. 

The  gentle  archbishop  of  York  is  up 

With  well-appointed  powers.    2  H*  i.  1.  119. 

I  talk  not  of  your  soul :  our  compelled  sins 

Stand  more  for  number  than  account.     M.  M.  ii.  4.  57. 

My  conceal'd  lady  to  her  cancell'd  love.     R.  J.  iii.  3.  98. 

Good  even  to  my  ghostly  confessor.    R.  J.  ii.  6.  21. 

Let  it  work; 

For  't  is  the  sport  to  have  the  e"nginer 
Hoist  with  his  own  petar.     H.  iii.  4,  203. 
So,  ploner,  Ib.  i.  5.  162;  mutiners,  Cor.  i.  1.  255. 

Labienus  hath  with  his  Parthian  force 
Extended  Asia  from  Euphrates.     A.  C.  i.  2.  106. 

*  Not  Shatcspere's.  The  enumeration  of  these  redundant  syllables  in  H8  enabled  Mr. 
Spedding,  as  early  as  1850,  to  separate  Fletcher's  work  from  Shakspere's.  Vid.  N.  Sh.  Soc. 
Trans.,  I.,  Appendix,  p.  14. 

t  While  it  may  not  be  necessary,  evn  for  critical  students,  to  read  a  permanent  classic  like 
Shakspere  with  his  own  pronunciation  (which  is  now  fairly  well  made  out,  cf.  Ellis,  E.  Eng. 
Pron.,  Cap.  VIII.  §  8),  it  is  important  for  all  to  read  him  metrically  ;  and  when  we  do  aright, 
we  find,  not  that  Shakspere  himself  changd  the  accent  "  for  the  sake  of  the  metre,"  but  that 
since  his  time  the  regular  accent  of  many  words  Ms  changd.  So  with  the  resolutions,  so 
calld ;  it  is  we  moderns  who  hav  done  the  changing,  by  reading  as  one  syllable  what  in 
Shakspere's  time  was  two.  And  no  observing  student  can  fail  to  notice  in  the  spokn  lan- 
gnage  of  modern  poetry  many  slurrd  contractions  and  other  apparent  irregularities  of  Shak- 
spere's verse.  It  is  when  we  try  to  print  them  that  they  seem  "  forced  and  unnatural  " 


8 

So  your  sweet  hue,  which  methinks  still  doth  stand, 
Hath  motion.     Son.  114.     (Walker,  LVII.) 
Than  twentj'  silly-ducking  observants.    K.  L.  ii.  2.  109. 
Ay,  do,  perseVer,  counterfeit  sad  looks.    M.  N.  D.  iii.  2.  237. 
So,  H.  i.  5.  162;  perseverance,  Mcb.  iv.  3.  93. 

At  Pentapolis  the  fair  Thaisa.     P.  v.  3.  4. 

Cf.  delectable,  R2  ii.  3.  7;  detestable,  K.  J.  iii.  4.  29;  horizon,  3  H<5  iv.  7.81; 
implorators,  H.  i.  3. 129;  maintain,  1  H6  i.  1. 71;  mature,  K.  L.  iv.  6.  228;  plebeians, 
Cor.  v.  4.  39;  A.  C.  iv.  12.  34;  mankind,  T.  of  A.  iv.  1.  40;  perspective,  A.  W.  v. 
3.  48;  pursuit,  Son.  143;  purveyor,  Mcb.  i.  6. 22;  receptacle,  R.  J.  iv.  3.  39;  relapse, 
H5  iv.  3.  107;  successors,  H8  i.  1.  60. 

— •  2.  Some  words  have  the  accent  nearer  the  end  than  with  us  now.  ("  Latin 
[French]  dissyllabic  derivatives  are  oxytone."  BEN  JONSON.)  —  ABBOTT, 
490;  ELLIS,  930,  931. 

I  say  without  characters  fame  lives  long.    R3  iii.  1.  81;  H.  i.  3.  59. 

Mark  our  contract;  mark  your  divorce,  young  sir.     W.  T.  iv.  4.  428 ;  T.  ii.  1.  151. 

Our  wills  and  fates  do  so  contrary  run.    H.  iii.  2.  221. 

And  world's  exile  is  death:  then  banished.     R.  J.  iii.  3,  20. 

That  no  revenue  hath  but  thy  good  spirits.     H.  iii.  2.  63. 

Banisht  this  frail  sepulchre  of  our  flesh.     R2  i.  3.  194.     Cf.  K.  L.  ii.  4,  134. 

By  heaven,  she  's  a  dainty  one,  sweetheart.    H8  i.  4.  94. 

As  't  were  triumphing  at  mine  enemies.    R3  iii.  4.  91. 

Cf.  abjdct,  R3  i.  1. 106;  aspect,  A.  C.  i.  5.  33;  R3  i.  1.  155;  commerce,  T.  C.  i. 
3.  105;  compact,  J.  C.  iii.  1.  215;  corner,  3  H6  iv.  5.  6;  edict,  2  HS  iii.  2.  258; 
exploits,  HS  i.  2.  121;  instinct,  Cor.  v.  3.  35;  obdurate,  M.  V.  iv.  1.  8;  opportune, 
T.  iv.  1.  26;  portents,  O.  i.  2.  45;  J.  C.  ii.  2.  50;  prescience,  J.  C.  i.  3.  199; 
sinister,  H5  ii.  4.  85;  triumph,  1  H4  v.  4.  14;  welcome,  R2  ii.  3.  170. 

3.  A  word  repeated  in  the  same  verse  often  has  two  accents  the  firs* 
time,  and  one  the  second ;  or  occupies  a  whole  bar  the  first  time,  and  onl> 
part  of  a  bar  the  second ;  and  vice  versa,  according  to  emphasis. 

These  violent  desires  have  \i-olent  ends.     R.  J.  ii.  6.  9. 

Sti-ll  so  cruel  ?     Still  so  constant,  lord.     T.  N.  v.  1.  113.     Cf.  IV.  1.  b. 

Of  greatest  justice.     Wri-yte,  write,  Rinaldo.     A.  W.  iii.  4.  29.     Cf.  IV.  2.  a. 

Yield,  Marcius,  yi-eld.     He-ar  me  one  word.     Cor.  iii.  1.  215.    Cf.  IV.  1.  a.  2. 

Give  me  that :  patience,  pa,-ti-ence  I  need.    K.  L.  ii.  4.  274. 

Therefore  and  wherefdre  sometimes  have  two  accents  ;  never  wherefore. 

How  cam'st  thou  hither,  tell  me  and  wherefore.     R.  J.  ii.  2.  62;  K.  L.  ii.  4.  106. 
Make  haste,  therefore,  sweet  love,  whilst  it  is  prime.     Son.  70. 

4.   Some  words  have  a  double  accent. 

Try  what  repentance  can ;  what  can  it  not  ? 

Yet  what  can  it,  when  one  cannot  repent?    H.  iii.  3.  65. 


Toward  the  end  of  Shakspere's  career  the  modern  pronunciation  became 
prevalent,  as  shown  in 

Your  eld'st  acquaintance  cannot  be  three  hours.     T.  v.  1.  185. 
Cf.  I,  myself,  fight  not  once  in  forty  year  (?).    1  H6  i.  3.  91. 
And  banding  thdmselves  in  contrary  parts.    1  H6  iii.  1.  81. 

But  the  modern  pronunciation  is  more  common.  SCHMIDT  (Lex.  p.  1413) 
states  the  general  rule  that  dissyllabic  adjectives  and  participles  throw  the 
accent  back  before  nouns  accented  on  the  first  syllable,  when  that  is  in  the 
arsis.  E.  g.  the  form  cdmplete  always  precedes  a  noun  accented  on  the  first 
syllable  ;  complete  is  always  in  the  predicate.  Compare 

He  is  complete  in  feature  and  in  mind.    T.  G.  ii.  4.  73  ;  and 
A  maid  of  grace  and  complete  majesty.     L.  L.  L.  i.  1.  137. 
That  thou  dread  corpse  again  in  complete  steel.    H.  i.  5.  61. 
Also, 

And  whom  she  finds  forlorn,  she  doth  lament.    Lucr.  1500;  and 
And  from  the  forlorn  world  his  visage  hide.     Sou.  33. 
Cf .  Adverse,  pernicious  enemy.    R2  i.  3.  82 ;  and 
Thy  adverse  party.     Son.  35. 
Verse  to  constancy  confined.     Son.  105;  and 
Forfeit  to  a  confined  doom.     Son.  107. 
Of  our  despised  nobility.    H«  iii.  2.  291 ;  and 
The  pangs  of  despised  love.    H.  iii.  1.  72. 
Romeo  is  Exiled.    R.  J.  iii.  2.  133;  and 
Calling  home  our  Exiled  friends.    Mcb.  v.  8.  66. 
Obscure  and  lowly  swain.    2  H6  iv.  1.  50;  and 
His  obscure  funeral.    H.  iv.  5.  213. 
Profound  simplicity.    L.  L.  L.  v.  2.  52;  and 
These  profound  heaves.     H.  iv.  1.  1. 
Secure  foolhardy  king.    R2.  v.  3.  43 ;  and 
Upon  my  secure  hour  thy  uncle  stole.    H.  i.  5,  61. 
Supposed  sincere  unholy  in  his  thoughts.    2  H4  i.  1.  202. 
Sir,  in  good  sooth,  in  sincere  verity.    K.  L.  ii.  2.  111. 

So,  contrived,  corrupt,  dispersed,  distinct,  distract,  exact,  exhaled,  ex- 
pired, express,  extreme,  humane,  profane,  remiss,  severe,  supreme.  Espe- 
cially adjectives  and  participles  with  the  prefix  un-. 

How  shall  your  houseless  heads  and  unfed  sides.   K.  L.  iii.  4.  30.   ( Vid.  Sch.  1.  c.  ff.) 

5.  Words  in  -ized  and  -ised  throw  the  accent  back  (pron.  ised). 

As  I  by  friends  am  well  advertised.    R3  iv.  4.  501. 
Why  thy  canonized  bones  hearsed  in  death.    H.  i.  4.  47. 
And  when  this  arm  of  mine  hath  chastised,     R3  iv.  4.  331. 
Authoriz'd  by  her  grandam  shame  itself.     Mcb.  iii.  4.  66. 
Of  Jacques  Falconbridge  solemnized.    L.  L.  L.  ii.  1.  42. 


10 

6.  French  accent  sometimes  retaind. 

Young,  valiant,  wise,  and,  no  doubt,  right  royal.    R3  i.  2.  245. 

So,  reason,  merchant,  fortune,  pardon,  merc^.  This  Romance  accent  in  blank 
verse,  however,  is  commoner  just  before  Shakspere  (vid.  SCHROEER,  Die  An- 
fange  des  Blankverses  in  England,  Anglia  IV.  15  if.) :  palace,  mountain,  manure, 
envy,  poison,  season,  honour,  picture  (SURREY);  mischfef,  entrailes  (SACKVILLE); 
marriage,  experience  (GASCOIGNE);  lions,  christall,  etc.  (SPENSER,  Visions  of 
Belay)]  hone'st,  argue  (LYLY). 

7.  Our  spondee  frequently  trochaic  in  Shakspere. 

Hark,  hark,  the  lark  at  heaven's  gate  sings.    Cy.  ii.  3.  21. 

I  pray  thee  Launce,  an  if  thou  seest  my  boy, 

Bid  him  make  haste,  and  meet  me  at  the  north  gate.     T.  G.  iii.  1.  258. 

On  the  bat's  back  I  do  fly.     T.  v.  1.  91.    As  hdrseback,  now. 

I  take  thy  hand,  this  hand, 
As  soft  as  dove's  down  and  as  white  as  it.     W.  T.  iv.  4.  374. 

So,  jay's  nest,  T.  ii.  2.  173;  swan's  nest,  Cy.  iii.  4.  142;  wealth's  sake,  C.  E. 
iii.  2.  6;  fair-play,K.  J.  v.  1.  67. 


III.   CONTRACTIONS.     (ELLIS,  939,  940.) 

1.  Prefixes  dropt.     (ABBOTT  466;  ELLIS,  p.  939). 

(a)bove,  Mcb.  iii.  5.  31;  (a)bout,  T.  i.  2.  220;  (be)cause,  Mcb.  iii.  6.  21; 
(ac)count,  H.  iv.  7. 17;  (be)havior,  H.  i.  2.  81;  (a)larum,  Cor.  i.  4.  9;  (be)nighted, 
K.  L.  iv.  5.  13;  (an)noyance,  H.  iii.  3.  13;  (ap)parel,  K.  L.  iv.  1.  51;  (com)plain, 
Jb.  iii.  1.  39;  (e)scape,  oftn;  'scuse  for  excuse,  0.  iv.  1.  80;  (at)tend,H.  iv.  3.  47. 

A  soothsayer  bids  you  (be)ware  the  ides  of  March.    J.  C.  i.  2.  19. 

(Be)c6mes  (en)d^ar'd  by  being  lack'd.    A.  C.  i.  4.  44. 

2.  th  in  the  middle  of  a  word  oftn  dropt  after  a  vowel.     (ABBOTT,  466.) 
In  other  the  th  is  so  completely  dropt  that  it  has  becom  our  ordinary 

"  or."     So  whether  is  oftn  writn  wh'er  (K.  L.  ii.  1.  55),  and  nearly  always  so 
pronounct. 

Whether  aught  to  us  unknown  afflicts  him  thus.    H.  ii.  2.  17. 

And  whefAer  he  run  or  fly  they  know  not  whether.    V.  A.  51. 

'Either  Heav'w  with  light' ning  strike  the  murderer  dead, 

Or  earth  gape  open  wide.    R3  i.  2.  64. 

Glou.   The  king  is  in  high  rage. 

Corn.  Whiter  is  he  going?    K.  L.  ii.  4.  299;  A.  Y.  i.  3.  92. 

Tell  me  your  counsels,  I  will  not  disclose  'em.    J.  C.  ii.  1.  298. 
So,  brother,  R2  v.  3. 137;  further,  1  H*  iii.  1.  257;  hither,  R3  i.  4.  250;  thither, 
S  i.  4.  78;  rather,  0.  iii.  4.  25;  neither,  M.  V.  i.  1.  78. 


11 

3.  Contraction  takes  place  when  a  vowel  follows  v.  Cf.  hast  =  havest; 
has  =  haveth  or  haves  ;  o'er  =  over;  e'er  =  ever;  evil  =  ill,  as  now. 

ILu-ing  God,  her  conscience,  and  these  bars  against  me.     R8  i.  2.  235. 
Cf.  M.  V.  iii.  2.  124;  V.  A.  828;  1  H*  iii.  1.  34;  T.  A.  v.  1.  61 ;  A.  W.  v.  3.  123. 

Travel  you  far  <5n,  or  are  you  at  the  farthest.     T.  S.  iv.  2.  73. 

No  marvel,  my  lord,  tho'  it  affrighted  you.    R3  i.  4.  64. 
Cf.   'T  is  marie  he  stabb'd  you  not.    B.  Jonson,  E.  Man  out  H.,  v.  4. 

A  deVil,  a  bor-n  de'v-il,  in  whose  nature.     T.  iv.  1.  188.     (Cf.  II.  3.) 
So  also,  Mcb.  iv.  3.  56 ;  H5  iv.  1.  12;  1  H?  i.  3.  85;  cf.  T.  N.  i.  5.  270. 

The  spirit  that  I  have  scene 
May  be  a  deale,  and  the  deale  hath  power 
T'  assume  a  pleasing  shape.     H.  ii.  2.  627;  Q2.  Q3. 

So,  dram  of  eale  =  evil  (76.  i.  4.  36)  =  ill,  as  now.  Cy.  v.  5.  60;  K.  J.  iii. 
4.  115;  H&iv.  1.  5. 

4.  Final  vocalic  -r  (-er,  -re),  -1  (-el,  -le),  m,  and  n,  frequently  resume  the 
force  of  consonants,  particularly  before  another  vowel  or  h,  with  correspond, 
ing  loss  of  syllable.* 

Report  should  render  him  hourly  to  your  ear.    Cy.  iii.  4. 153.   Read :  ren-dV'zm. 

This  letter  he  early  bid  me  give  his  father.    R.  J.  v.  3.  275.     Read:  le"Wr'e. 

Cowards  fa-ther  cowards  and  base  things  sf-re  base.     Cy.  iv.  2.  26. 

And  trouble  deaf  heaven  with  my  bootless  cries.     Son.  29.    Read:  trull  deaf. 

I  'd  whisU'  her  off  and  let  her  drown  the  wind.     0.  iii.  3.  262;  K.  L.  iv.  2.  29. 

In  the  dark  backward  and  abysm  of  time.     T.  i.  2.  50.     Read:  abys-mo/. 

The  m&ssewgers  from  our  sister  and  the  King.     K.  L.  ii.  2.  54;  A.  C.  iii.  6.  31. 

Had  we  done  so  at  first,  we  had  drovew  ^em  home.    A.  C.  iv.  7.  4.    Read: 

we'd  drov-wm. 
So,  driven,  0.  i.  3.  232;  and  Heavew,  givera,  etc.,  as  in  modern  hymns. 

Needle  in  "  Gammer  Gurton's  Needle  "  rymes  wiihfeele. 
Cf.  And  griping  it  the  needle  his  finger  pricks.     Lucr.  319. 

To  thread  the  postern  of  a  small  needle's  eye.     R2  v.  5.  17 ;  K.  J.  v.  2.  157. 
Ct.  1  am  a  ge'nflman  of  a  company.    H5  iv.  1.  39 ;  gen'man,  UDALL. 

*  It  must  not  be  forgotn  that  the  liquids  1,  m,  n,  r,  in  English,  as  well  as  in  the  ancient 
languages  (vid.  Am.  Jour.  Philol.,  I.  3.  282),  are  sounds  capable  of  being  prolongd  and  suscep- 
tible of  accent,  and  that  consequently  they  can  each  form  a  syllable.  (  Vid.  Sievers,  Phonetik, 
p.  29,  sqq.)  E.g.  hev-n  —  heaven,  not  heav-2w  ;  han-d/,  not  hand-e£  or  handle.  iSweet, 
§§252,  254.)  Vocalic  m  occurs,  for  example,  in  the  vulg.  pron.  el-m  for  elm,  and  in  abysm, 
chasw,  prisnr.  Final  vocalic  r,  however,  has  for  the  most  part  becom  the  neutral  vowel  d  (as 
in  but).  E.g.,  "  thd  writ-9,"  for  "the  writer."  But  the  r  reappears  before  a  vowel,  •'  tha 
writa-r  of  books  ";  sometimes  evn  where  it  does  not  legitimately  belong,  as  "  the  idea-r  of  it." 
( Vid.  Storm.  Eng.  Phil.,  1. 92.)  Now  a  large  number  of  contractions  in  Shakspere  arise  from 
the  surrender  of  this  syllabic  function  of  1,  m,  n,  and  r.  fid.  W.  D.  WHITNEY,  The  Rela- 
tion of  Vowel  and  Consonant,  Oriental  and  Linguistic  Essays,  p.  277  sqq. 


12 


Aer,  W.  T.  ii.  1.  20. 
Cf.  For  him  were  levere  Aave  at  his  beddes  heede.    CHAUCEB,  Prol.  C.  T.  293. 

5.  The  force  of  r  is  also  effectiv  in  certain  classes  of  words  (the  greater 
part  of  them  composd  of  two  short  syllables),  which  are  frequently  con- 
tracted into  one  syllable,  or  occupy  monosyllabic  places  in  the  line,  chiefly 
when  they  are  followed  by  vowels.    E.  g. :  — 

Ham.  Perchance  't  will  walk  again. 

Hor.  I  warrant  it  will.     H.  i.  2.  243. 

*'  have  cast  off  forever;  thou  shalt,  I  warrant  thee.    K.  L.  i.  4.  332. 
A  barren  detested  vale  you  see  it  is.    T.  A.  ii.  3.  92. 
And  then  they  say  no  spirit  dares  stir  abroad.    H.  i.  1.  161;  T.  i.  2.  215. 
Place  barrels  of  pitch  upon  the  fatal  stake.    1  H6  v.  4.  57. 
So,  Clarence,  3  H6  iv.  1.  9;  alarwm,  Mcb.  v.  5.  51;  Cor.  ii.  2.  80;  flour'shing, 
T.  G.  v.  4.  3;  nourish,  2  HS  iii.  1.  348  (cf.  nurse). 

6.  The  weakest  unaccented  syllable  in  polysyllables  oftn  slurrd  over, 
particularly  i.    (See  5,  ad  Jin.) 

Judicious  pun'shment!    'T  was  this  flesh  begot.    K.  L.  iii.  4.  76. 
His  short  thick  neck  cannot  be  eas'ly  harm'd.    V.  A.  627. 
Of  smooth  civiPty,  yet  am  I  inland  bred.    A.  Y.  ii.  7.  96. 

So,  prett'ly,  heart'ly,  am'ty,  qual'ty  hostiPty,  curios'ty,  importunity,  indign'ty, 
commun'ties,  humid'ty,  pur'ty;  moiety,  Son.  46. 

Hold  thee  from  this  forever.    The  barbarous  Scythian.    K.  L.  i.  1. 118. 
Our  purpose  necessary  and  not  envious.    J.  C.  ii.  1.  178. 
Thoughts  speculative  their  unsure  hopes  relate.    Mcb.  v.  4.  19. 
Conjectural  marriages  making  parties  strong.    Cor.  i.  1. 198.     (Cf.  10.) 
Innocent  milk  in  it  most  innocent  mouth.    W.  T.  iii.  2. 101. 

01  Iv.    How  now,  Malvolio ! 

Mai.  Ma'am,  you  've  done  me  wrong.    T.  N".  v.  1.  336. 

Go  thou  to  sanctuary  and  good  thoughts  possess  thee.    R3  iv.  1. 94.    Vid.  Ellis,  p.  948. 

So,  blemish,  W.  T.  iii.  2.  199;  prom'sing,  C.  E.  v.  1.  222;  conference,  Mcb.  iii. 
1.  80;  majesty,  A.  W.  ii.  1.  98;  remedy,  Mcb.  iii.  2.  11;  inventory,  H8.  iii.  2.  152; 
stillitory,  V.  A.  74;  Bartholomew,  T.  S.  Ind.  i.  105;  Haverford,  R3  iv.  5.  7;  ig- 
nominy, M.  M.  ii.  4.  Ill;  Enobarbus,  A.  C.  iii.  2.  55;  par'lous  =  perilous,  R3  ii. 
4.  35 ;  canstick  =  candlestick,  1  H4  iii.  1.  131. 

7.  Words  in  which  a  "  light "  vowel  sound  is  preceded  by  a  "  heavy  " 
vowel  sound  are  slurrd  into  monosyllables. 

That  6n  the  view  and  knowing  of  these  contents.    H.  v.  2.  44. 
The  which  no  sooner  had  his  prowess  confirm' d.    Mcb.  v.  8.  41. 
And  executing  th'  outward  face  of  royalty.    T.  i.  2. 104. 


13 

So,  being,  doing,  seeming,  saying,  playing,  growing,  tying,  drawing,  blowing, 
power,  jewel.  Cf.  po'sy  of  a  ring,  H.  iii.  2.  162.  So,  poetry  and  poet  in  Eliza- 
bethan writers.  Sheriff,  2  H4  iv.  4.  4  =  shrieve. 

8.  ed  following  d  or  t  oftn  not  writn  and  when  writn  not  pronounct. 

For  treason  executed  in  our  late  King's  days.    1  HS  ii.  4.  91 ;  v.  1.  169. 
Was  aptly  fitted  and  natwrally  performed.    T.  S.  Ind.  i.  87. 
When  service  sweat  for  duty,  not  for  meed.    A.  Y.  ii.  3.  58. 
And  I  of  ladies  most  deject  and  wretched.    H.  iii.  1.  163. 
The  wild  waves  whist.    T.  i.  2.  379.    MILTON,  Nativ.  Ode,  64. 
Cf.  Abb.  341,  342,  and  vid.  H.  ii.  1.  112;  A.  Y.  i.  2.  156;  M.  V.  iii.  2.  169; 
M.  Ado  ii.  1. 189,  etc.;  H5  i.  2.  305;  1  H4  v.  5.  13. 

Similarly  two  dental  syllables  are  contracted  into  one.  E.  g.  it  after  let, 
set,  yet,  etc. 

I  humbly  set  it  at  your  will;  but  for  my  mistress.     Cy.  iv.  3.  13. 
Yoii  are  a  young  huntsman,  Marcus ;  let  it  alone.     T.  A.  iv.  2. 101. 
You  see  is  kill'd  in  him;  and  yet  it  is  danger.   K.  L.  iv.  7.  79. 

9.  ed  of  participles  and  preterits  (particularly  after  palatals)  contracted 
into  d  (after  k  and  s  (sh)  =t). 

Lay  me  stark-naked  and  let  the  water  flies.    A.  C.  v.  2.  59 ;  H.  iv.  7.  52. 

By  what  by-paths  and  indirect  crook' d  ways.     2  H4  iv.  5.  185. 

Let  hell  make  crook'd  my  mind  to  answer  it.    3  H6  v.  6.  79. 

Alack,  for  lesser  knowledge !  how  accursed  (=  '£) 

In  be"ing  so  bles*.    W.  T.  ii.  1.  38.     (Cf.  III.  7.)    T.  i.  2.  61. 

What  can  happen 

To  me  above  this  wretchedness?    All  your  studies 
Make  me  a  curse  like  this.    H8  iii.  1.  122. 
Thus  like  a  slave  ragged,  like  a  felon  gyv'd.    HEYWOOD. 
Sometimes  contracted  and  uncontracted  in  the  same  line. 

Hence  banished  is  banish'd  from  the  world.    E.  J.  iii.  3. 19.    (Cf.  II.  3.) 
To  this  unlook'd  for,  unprepared  pomp.    K.  J.  ii.  1.  560. 
That  were  embatailled  and  rank'd  in  Kent.    Ib.  iv.  2.  200. 
Despis'd,  distressed,  hated,  martyr'd,  kill'd.    R.  J.  iv.  5.  59. 

10.  The  plural  and  the  possessive  case  of  nouns  in  which  the  singular  ends 
in  s,  se,  ss,  ce,  and  ge,  frequently  writn  and  more  frequently  pronounct 
without  additional  syllable.     (WALKER,  LI. ;  ABBOTT,  471.) 

Doct.    You  see  her  eyes  are  open. 

Gent.  Avj  but  their  sense  are  shut.    Mcb.  v.  1.  29 ;  Son.  112. 

The  images  of  revolt  and  flying  off.    K.  L.  ii.  4.  91. 

I  '11  to  him;  he  is  hid  at  Laurence'  cell.    R.  J.  iii.  2. 141. 

How  many  ways  shall  Carthage's  glory  grow.     SURREY'S  -<En.  iv.  (Walker.) 

As  blanks,  benevolences,  and  I  wot  not  what.    R2  ii.  1.  250. 


14 

For  tinctures  stains  relics  and  cognizance*.    J.  C.  ii.  2.  89;  Ib.  ii.  1. 148. 

Are  there  balance'  here  to  weigh  the  flesh?    M.  V.  iv.  1.  255. 

Sits  on  his  horse'  back  at  mine  hostess'  door.    K.  J.  ii.  1,  289  ff. 

Giving  my  verdict  on  the  white  rose'  side.    1  R6  ii.  4.  48. 

Stept  before  targe'  of  proof  (plural).    Cy.  v.  5.  5;  A.  C.  ii.  6.  39. 
Cf.  KEATS,  Endymion,  iii.,  "brazen  beaks  and  targe';  Rudders,"  etc. 
Is  modern  English  pulse,  after  same  analogy,  for  pulses,  in  SHELLEY,  Revolt  of 
Islam,)  V.  xlviii.,  "  From  both  the  hearts  whose  pulse  in  joy  now  beat  together  "? 

So,  George('s),  R3  v.  3.  344;  piirpose(s),  Cy.  iv.  3.  15;  service(s),  0.  i.  2.  18; 
conve3rance(s),  C.  v.  1.  54.  These  verse.  DANIEL. 

Will  see  the  porpoise  and  the  dolphins  play.    SHIRLY,  Narcissus. 

12.   Superlativ  oftn  contracted. 

The  sweet'st,  dear'st  creature's  dead,  and  vengeance  for  't 

Not  dropt  down  yet.    W.  T.  iii.  2.  202. 

This  is  thy  eld'st  son's  son.    K.  J.  ii.  1. 177;  Cy.  i.  1.  58. 

The  stern'st  good  night.    Mcb.  ii.  2.  4. 

Cf.  Thou  stroakd'st  me  and  mad'st  much  of  me,  would'st  give  me.  T.  i.  2.  333. 
So,  thought'st,  A.  W.  ii.  1.  133;  spok'st,  W.  T.  i.  2.  88;  speak' st,  L.  L.  L.  iv. 
1.  12;  lov'st,  W.  T.  i.  2.  174;  split'st,  ib.  349;  great' st,  A.  W.  ii.  1.  163;  fair'st, 
W.  T.  iv.  4.  112;  new'st,  Mcb.  iv.  3.  174;  deep'st,  T.  G.  v.  4.  71;  near'st,  W.  T. 
iii.  2.  52;  rar'st,  P.  v.  1.  233;  faithfull'st,  T.  N.  v.  117;  strong' st,  T.  iv.  26;  un- 
pleasant'st,  M.  V.  iii.  2.  254.  Cf.  POPE,  Imit.  Hor.  Epist.  i.  60,  "arrant'st 
puppy." 

13.  OTHER  CONTRACTIONS  (WALKER,  V.,  VI.).  Personal  pronouns:  it 
='t ;  us  =  's  ;  in  the  =  i'  the ;  on  the  =  o'  the ;  in  his  =  in 's  ;  of  his  =  o's ; 
he  has  =  h'as  ;  they  have  =  they  've ;  thou  wert  =  th'  wert ;  you  were  = 
you  're  ;  he  were  =  h'  were ;  she  were  =  sh'  were,  H.  iv.  5.  14 ;  at  the  = 
at',  K.  L.  ii.  4.  10,  cf.  Ib.  ii.  2.  116;  that  it  =  that ',  K.  L.  i.  1.  211.  So, 
this'  =  this  is  : 

0  this*  the  poison  of  deep  grief;  it  springs.     H.  iv.  5.  76. 

This  '  a  good  block.     K.  L.  iv.  6.  187. 

Rey.  My  lord,  I  have. 

Pol.  God  be  with  you,  fare  you  well.     H.  ii.  1.  69. 

God  b'  wi'  you  =  Good  bye.  B'wye  old  gentleman.  SMOLLET,  Rod'k  Ran- 
dom, ch.  iii.  ad  fin.  Cf.  Godgigoden,  R.  J.  i.  2.  57  =  God  give  you  good  even ; 
God  dig  you  den,  L.  L.  L.  iv.  1.  43 ;  Godild,  H.  iv.  5.  41  ==  God  yield ; 
's  wounds,  H.  ii.  2.  604  =  'zounds,  O.  i.  1.  86  =  God's  wounds.  So,  'sblood, 
H.  ii.  2.  384.  Cf.  By  'r  leave,  M.  M.  iv.  3.  115;  Cy.  ii.  3.  70 ;  By  'r  lady,  R.  J. 
i.  5.  35,  H.  iii.  2. 140 ;  and  oftn  in  prose. 


15 


IV.    EXPANSIONS   OR  RESOLUTIONS.* 

1.  Liquids  maintain  their  phonetic  force  as  vowels.     (See  III.  4,  note.) 
a.  1.   Syllabic  r.     (ELLIS,  451 ;  ABBOTT,  477-480.) 

You  sent  me  deputy  to  I-re-land.    H8  iii.  2.  260. 

I  am  the  son  of  Hen-r-y  the  Fifth.    3  H^  i.  1.  107. 

Farewell :  commend  me  to  your  mfs-£r-e'ss.     R.  J.  ii.  4.  204. 

Good  my  lord,  the  sdc-r-ets  of  nature.    J.  C.  iv.  2.  74. 

Ignomy  in  ransom  and  free  pa-r-don 

A're  of  two  houses,  lawful  me-r-cy.    M.  M.  ii.  4.  Ill,  112;  R3  iv.  4.  515. 

(Cf.  II.  6.) 

So,  mons-£r-ous,  Mcb.  iii.  6.  8;  ang-r-y,  T.  of  A,  iii.  5.  57;  en-ir-ance.,  R.  J.  i. 
4.  7;  couiWr-y,  T.  N.  i.  2.  21;  Cor.  i.  9.  17;  pil-^r-im,  A.  W.  iii.  5.  43;  breth-r-en, 
T.  A.  i.  1.  347;  chil-dr-en,  C.  E.  v.  1.  360;  Ber-*r-am's,  A.  W.i.  1.  94;  frus-<r-ate, 
A.  C.  v.  1.  2. 

2.  This  syllabic  r  (final)  occurs  most  frequently  after  a  long  vowel  sound. 

As  ffre  drives  out  ffre,  so  pity  pity.    J.  C.  iii.  1.  171. 

I  know  a  bank  wher-re  the  wild  thyme  blows.     M.  N.  D.  ii.  1.  249. 

Hear,  Nature,  he-ar;  de-ar  Goddess,  he'ar.     K.  L.  i.  4.  297. 

Hath  turn'd  my  fefgned  prayers  on  my  head.     R3  v.  1.  gl. 

May-or,  farewell,  thou  dost  but  what  thou  mayst.     1  H6  i.  3.  86. 

The  greatest  strength  and  pow-er  he  can  make.     R3  iv.  4.  449. 
So,  fa-ir,  T.  iv.  1.  31;  fa-re,  K.  J.  v.  7.  35;  md-re,  K.  L.  ii.  4.  99;  the*~re,  R.  J. 
iv.  5.  36;   whe"-re,  H.  i.  2.  185;    ne-ar,  Mcb.  ii.  3.  146;    te*-ars,   Cor.  v.  6.  101; 
y£-ar,  T.  i.  2.  53;  si-re,  A.  W.  ii.  3.  142;  mo-re,  K.  L.  v.  3.  168;  yoii-r,  W.  T.  iii. 
2.  232. 

3.  This  same  r  is  oftn  prolongd  with  a  kind  of  burr,  giving  another 
syllable.     Cf .  sirrah  =  sir. 

Look  how  he  makes  to  Caesar!  marrk  him!    J.  C.  iii.  1.  18 ;  T.  i.  2.  88. 

Strikes  his  breast  harrd  and  anon  he  casts.     H8  iii.  2.  117. 

The  we'-ird  sisters  hand  in  hand.     Mcb.  i.  3.  32. 

Do  more  than  this  in  sp6rt.     Father,  father !     K.  L.  ii.  1.  37. 

To  show  her  bleeding  body  thorough  Rome  (=  E.  E.  thurh),  Lucr.  1851. 
So,  apa-rt,  A.  C.  iii.  13.  47;  a-rts,  L.  L.  L.  ii.  1.  45;  thf-rd,  1  H<5  i.  1.  276;  wo-rd, 
H.  iii.  4.  180;  fou-rth,  R2  iv,  1.  112;  hear-t,  Cor.  iii.  2.  54;  lorrd,  R3  ii.  1.  110; 
marrch,  H5  iii.  6.  150. 

*  Just  as  in  music,  rests  may  receive  part  of  the  time-allotment  of  a  bar,  so,  effective  disposi- 
tion of  pauses,  even  in  accented  positions,  in  the  verse,  may  frequently  obviate  the  necessity  of 
resolution. 


16 

6.  Syllabic  1.  (Spenser  inserts  the  unnecessary  e  in  some  of  these  words  ; 
as,  handeling,  F.  Q.  i.  8. 28;  enterance,  Ib.  34.) 

A  rotten  case  abides  no  han-dZ-ing.    2  H4  iv.  1.  161. 

Than  Bolingbroke's  return  to  England.    R2.  iv.  4.  263. 

Why,  then,  I  wi-ll.    Fa-rewell,  old  Gaunt.    R2  j.  2.  44. 

Just  as  you  left  them,  — a-/J  pris'ners,  sir.    T.  v.  1.  8. 

Yea,  lookst  thou  pa-Ze  ?    Let  me  see  the  writing.    R2  v.  2.  57. 

Be  free"  and  hea-Zthfiil.    So  tart  a  favor.    A.  C.  ii.  5.  38. 

This  ignorant  present  and  I  fe6-l  now.    Mcb.  i.  5.  58. 

While  lie  himself  keeps  in  the  ccWd  field.    3  H6  iv.  3.  41. 

So  frequently  adverbs  in  -ly  (Walker,  p.  23),  deep-Z-y,  W.  T.  ii.  3;  short-Z-y,  R3 
iv.  4;  quick-/-y,  M.  M.  ii.  4.  So,  assemb-Z-y,  Cor.  i.  1.  159;  nob-Z-y,  K.  L.  v.  1. 28; 
humb-Z-er,  H6  iii.  1.  56.  Cf.  fid-<#-er,  T.  S.  ii.  1.  158;  jug-^-er,  M.  N.  D.  iii.  2. 
282;  Lord  Doug-Z-as,  1  H*  v.  2.  33;  dii-M,  C.  E.  v.  1.  79:  wi-M,  J.  C.  iii.  2.  153; 
changer-ing,  M.  N.  D.  ii.  1.  23;  me-Z-ted,  Ib.  iv.  1. 163. 

c.   Syllabic  n  (less  common). 

Of  quick  cross  light- ft-ing  ?    To  watch,  poor  pe*rdu.     K.  L.  iv.  7.  35. 

With  them,  Sir  Thomas  Vaugh-'n,  pris-'ra-ers.    R8  ii.  4.  43. 

I  do  wander  everywhere, 

Swifter  than  the  moo-n's  sphere.    M.  N.  D.  ii.  1.  7.     (Cf.  2.  a.  5.) 

Each  man 's  like  mi-ne:  y6u  have  shown  all  Hector's.    A.  C.  iv.  8.  7. 

Mine  own  and  not  mine  6w-w.     A're  you  sure?    M.  N.  D.  iv.  1.  189 

Which  is  most  M-nt.    Now  't  is  true.    T.  Ep.  3. 

At  a  poor  man's  house:  he  lis'd  me  ki-wdly.    Cor.  i.  9.  83. 

So,  oftn  nouns  in  -ness  (Walker,  p.  20),  sick-n-ess,  1  H4  iv.  1.  Cf.  H.  ii.  2.  147  ff. 
wit-n-ess,  T.  G.  iv.  2.  110.  So,  frie-wds,  M.  M.  iii.  1.  28;  joi-nt,  M.  M.  v.  1.  314; 
go-ne,  M.  V.  ii.  9.  72;  the-wce,  H.  ii.  1.  148;  Fra-nce,  H5  i.  2.  167;  ord-w-ance 
(not  necessarily  ordinance,  as  Ff.),  H5  ii.  4.  126;  thor-ws,  Ib.  329;  sta-wd,  H8  i. 
2.  85;  gra-nt,  T.  i.  2.  79;  ki-wg,  Cy.  v.  5.  407. 

d    Syllabic  m  (rare). 

Lear.    To  this  detested  groo-wi. 

Gon.  A't  your  chofce,  sir.    K.  L.  ii.  4.  220. 

But  roo-m,  fairy,  here  comes  Oberon.     M.  N.  D.  ii.  1.  58. 
Co-77ie,  good  fdllow,  put  my  fr-on  on.    A.  C.  iv.  4.  3. 
Card.    Ro-we  shall  remedy  this. 

Glou.  Roam  thither  th^n.     1  H<3  iii.  1.  51. 

At  a  crackt  drach-wi!     Cushions  leaden  spoons.    Cor.  i.  5.  6. 
Then  shall  the  realm  of  Albion  Co-we  to  great  confus-ion.    K.  L.  iii.  2.  92. 
So  Rome,  A.  C.  i.  4.  73;  co-mes  (pron.  ca'-mz),*  M.  N.  D.  iv.  1.  163. 

*  Phonetically  in  these  cases  in  which  the  liquids  appear,  it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  the 
first  vowel  sound  split  up  or  prolongd.  In  fact,  the  impression  (arising  in  part  from  the  inad- 
equacy of  our  graphic  symbols)  that  this  style  of  scansion  is  forct  and  unnatural  will  in 
great  measure  vanish,  if  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  language  under  consideration  consists  of 
sounds,  not  letters,  and  that  the  accent  treated  of  is  not  merely  a  series  of  isolated  word-  or 


17 

e.   Syllabic  s  (se,  z).     (Cf.  colloq.  "I  sh'd  think  so.") 

Ye-s,  madam,  he  was  of  that  consort.    K.  L.  ii.  1.  97. 

Where  pray-ers  cro-ss.     A't  what  time  to-morrow.    M.  M  ii.  2. 159. 

And  an  eternal  cur-se  fall  on  you.     Mcb.  iv.  1.  105. 

Take  time  to  paii-se  ;  and  by  the  next  new  moon.     M.  N.  D.  i.  1.  83. 

W6r-se  and  worse,  she  will  not  come !    0  vile !     T.  S.  v.  2.  93.    (Cf .  II.  3.) 

Not  in  the  wor-st  rank  of  manhood  say 't.     Mcb.  iii.  1.  103. 

I  pray  you,  si-rs,  He  in  my  tdnt  and  sleep.     J.  C.  iv.  3.  246. 

The  gt>-</s,  not  the  patricians,  make  it,  and.     Cor.  i.  1.  75. 

Why  so  brave,  lor-c/s,*  wh^n  we  join  in  league?    K2  iv.  1.  104. 

2    Emphatic  monosyllables  oftn  take  the  place  of  a  whole  foot, 
a.  Diphthongs  t  resolvd:  — 

1.  a* or  &.  Horrible  si-tght!    Now  1  see  'tis  true.    Mcb.  iv.  1.  122. 

Will  you  be  ruled  by  me?    A'y-y,  my  lord.    H.  iv.  7.  GO. 

2.  e*.  Stay-*/,  the  king  hath  thrown  his  warder  down.     Cor.  i.  3. 118. 

I  '11  b'  wf  you  straight.     Go  a  little  before.     H.  iv.  4.  31. 
To  faf-Z  in  the  disposing  of  those  chances.     Cor.  iv.  7.  40. 
He  humbly  prays  you  speedy  pay-^/ment.     T.  of  A.  ii.  2.  28. 
So,  may-y,  R2  ii.  1. 148;  yea-?/,  Cor.  iii.  2.  2;  hai-J,  Mcb.  i.  2.  5.     (Cf.  IV.  1.  b.) 

3.  o".  0  o  but  she  '11  ke-ep  her  word.     H.  iii.  2.  214. 

O  o  the  difference  of  man  and  man  !     K.  L.  iv.  2.  25. 
Is  go-ads,  thor-ws,  nestles,  tails  of  wasps.    W.  T.  i.  2.  329. 
So,  who-fe,K.  L.  i.  2. 14.    (Cf.  IV.  1  b.) 

4.  £/.  Forward  not  permanent,  swe'e-t  not  lasting.     H.  i.  3.  8. 

Speak,  Lavmia,  what  accursed  hand  —    T.  A.  iii.  1.  66. 
So,  stee-1,  Cor.  i.  9.  45;  yie-ld,  1  H6  iii.  1.  112.     (Cf.  IV.  1.  b.) 

syllable-accents,  but  a  rythmical  sentence-  or  verse-accent.  A  little  close  observation,  too,  of 
'  our  own  natural  rapid  speech,  will  reveal  many  identical  resolutions  and  contractions  ;  we  do 
not,  however,  attempt  to  represent  them  in  our  writn  language. 

*  Formerly  this  word,  and  words  like  it,  would  hav  com  under  IV.  1.  a.  3.  Now  the  r  has 
almost  completely  disappeard  from  it,  so  that  it  generally  sounds  like  Idw-dz.  Evn  if  the 
pronunciation  in  Shakspere's  time  cannot  be  provn  to  hav  existed  exactly  as  intimated  here 
and  in  2.  a,  its  existence  now  enables  the  modern  reader  to  account  physiologically  for  many 
apparent  anomalies  which  otherwise  must  be  left  unexplaind  as  "  arbitrary  licenses  for  the 
sake  of  the  metre." 

t  The  long  vowels,  so  calld  in  English,  are  nearly  all  diphthongs.  (Vid.  Sweet,  Handb.  of 
Phonetics,  §§  200-208.)  E.  g.  The  sound  in  the  pronoun  I  (cf.  R.  J.  iii.  2.  45)  vanishes  into 
either  i  (machine,  Melville  Bell)  or  i  (pity,  A.  J.  Ellis,  Early  Eng.  Pron.,  1100).  The  first 
element  also  varies,  as  seen  in  /saiah  (Ellis,  p.  108 ;  Storm,  Eng.  Phil.,  p.  75) ;  in  N.  Eng. 
it  is  generally  a  (father).  "Stay-?/"  vanishes  in  the  same  way:  s£e*  (Storm,  p.  75;  Ellis, 
p.  1108);  o  in  "goad"  vanishes  intow  (full):  gdud.  "Sweet"  and  "boot"  vanish  into 
narrower  vowel  sounds  (Sievers,  Phonetik,  p.  121),  almost  consonantal.  Sweet  writes  them 
iy  and  nw.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  this  resolution  of  the  "  long  "  vowels  in  Shakspere'a 
verse  is  but  an  anticipation  of  the  phonetic  spelling  of  our  modern  pronunciation  of  the  same 
sounds.  (Vid.  the  Philological  Society's  New  English  Dictionary,  p.  xiv.,  1884.) 


18 

5.  uw.          Pull  off  my  boo-t:  harder,  harder,  so.    K.  L.  iv.  6. 177. 

But  mdo-dy  and  dti-ZJ  melancholy.    C.  of  E.  v.  1.  79. 
He  straight  declined,  drdo-p'd,  took  it  deeply.     W.  T.  ii.  3.  14. 
Goo-d  my  lord,  give  me  thy  favor  still.    T.  iv.  1.  204. 
So,  noo-n,  W.  T.  i.  2.  290.    (Cf.  IV.  1.  c.) 

6.  o».  What  say  you,  bo-ys?    Will  you  bide  with  him?    T.  A.  v.  2.  137, 

Of  their  own  chd-»ce:  one  is  Junius  Brutus.     Cor.  i.  1.  220. 

6.  Exclamations :  — 

Where  be  the  knaves?    Whd-at,  no  man  at  door!    T.  S.  iv.  1.  125. 
But  so-ft  f  company  is  coming  here.     Jb.  iv.  5.  26. 
Cf.  You  and  your  cra-fts  you  have  crafted  fair.     Cor.  iv.  6.  118. 

c.   Emphasizd  by  position  or  antithesis  :  — 

When  Caesar's  hdad  is  <3ff.     Ye-t  I  fe"ar  him.    J.  C.  ii.  1.  183. 

Of  goodly  thousands.    Bu-t  for  all  this.    Mcb.  iv.  3.  44. 

How  in  my  strength  you  please.    For  you-w,  Edmund.     K.  L.  ii.  1. 114. 
So,  btK  A.  C.  v.  1.  27;  ye-*,  K.  L.  i.  4.  365;  T.  A.  iii.  2.  76.    Especially  em- 
phatic pronouns  (Cf.  a),  yoii-w,  M.  V.  ii.  6.  24,  Cor.  v.  3.  192,  O.  iii.  4.  44,  J.  C. 
iv.  3.  9;  thoii-M  (?),  H*  ii.  2.  128. 

3.  -ion  (pron.  si-on),  two  syllables,  generally  final.    (ABBOTT,  479.     List 
in  ELLIS,  948-950.)     Very  common. 

Of  Hamlet's  transformat-i-on :  so  call  it.    H.  ii.  2.  5. 

Yet  have  I  fierce  affect-i-ons  and  think.    A.  C.  i.  5. 17. 

Jove,  Jove !  this  shepherd's  pass-i-on 

Is  much  upon  my  fash-i-on.     A.  Y.  ii.  4.  61. 

So,  relig-i-on,  K.  J.  iii.  1.  279;  rebell-i-on,  3  H«  i.  1.  133,  mill-i-on,  T.  A.  ii.  1. 
49;  compan-i-on,  P.  i.  1.  4;  obliv-i-on,  T.  C.  iv.  5.  167;  oce-an,  H5  iii.  1.  14;  pu-is- 
sance,  2  H*  i.  3.  77;  le-o-pard,  1  H6  i.  5.  31 ;  cre-a-ture,  1  HS  i.  6.  4;  T.  N.  v.  1.  231; 
ple-a-sures,  T.  A.  i.  2.  151  (?ELLIS,  p.  947);  gor-ge-ous,  K.  L.  ii.  4.  271;  sur-ge-ons, 
Ib.  iv.  6.  196;  ser-ge-ant,  Mcb.  i.  2.  3;  extra-ordinary,  H4  iii.  1.  41;  Ib.  iii.  2.  78; 
buri-ed,  H$  iii.  3.  9;  putrifi-ed,  T.  C.  v.  9. 1;  mortifi-ed,  J.  C.  ii.  1.  324;  miscarri-ed, 
M.  V.  ii.  8.  29;  follow-ed,  Cor.  i.  4.  42;  consider-ed,  R8  iii.  7.  176;  bus-i-ness,  Cor. 
v.  3.  8. 

So  also,  final  -ience,  -lent,  -iant,  -ious,  -iage,  -ial,  -ier. 

And  yet  't  is  almost  'gainst  my  consci-ence.     H.  v.  2.  307. 

For  I  do  know  Fluellen  vali-ant.    H5  iv.  7.  187. 

Than  the  sea-monster !    Pray,  sir,  be  pati-ent.    K.  L.  i.  4.  283. 

Did  this  in  Caesar  seem  ambit-i-ous  ?    J.  C.  iii.  2.  95. 

And  in  his  wisdom  hastes  our  marri-age.     R.  J.  iv.  2.  145. 

Too  flattering  sweet  to  be  substanti-al.     Ib.  ii.  2.  141. 

As  you  are  friends,  scholars,  and  soldi-ers.    H.  i.  5.  141. 


19 

4.  a.  e  mute  pronounct.    (Relic  of  Early  Eng.  pronunciation.) 

Your  grace  mistak-es:  only  to  be  brief.     R2  Hi.  3.  9. 
Till  all  thy  bones  with  ach-es  make  thee  roar.     T.  i.  2.  370. 
Who 's  there  that  knock-es  so  imperiously?    1  H6  i.  3.  5. 
She  dreamt  to-night  she  saw  my  statue.     J.  C.  ii.  2.  76. 
Latin  statua;  so  Ib.  iii.  2.  192;  R3  iii.  7.  25.     (Walker,  LX.) 

Be  valued  'gainst  your  wife's  command-e-ment.    M.  V.  iv.  451. 

(Cf.  IV.  1.  c.) 

So,  Glou-ces-ter,  1  U6i.  3.  62;  Cat-es-by,  R3  iii.  1. 157;  Wor-ces-ter,  R2  ii.  2.  58; 
Col-e-ville,  2  H4  iv.  3.  79;  crad-1-es,  T.  C.  iii.  3.  200. 

b.  Syllabic  genitiv  :  — 

To  show  his  teeth  as  white  as  whale's  bones.    L.  L.  L.  v.  2.  332. 

Of  Mars's  fiery  steed.    To  other  regi-ons.    A.  W.  ii.  3.  300 ;  T.  iv.  1.  98. 

o  Syllabic  French  e. 

The  melancholy  Jacqu-es  grieves  at  that.     A.  Y.  ii.  1.  26. 
O  my  Paroll-es  they  have  married  me.     A.  W.  ii.  3.  289. 
His  grace  is  at  Marseill-es,  to  which  place.     Ib.  iv.  3.  9. 
Now  Esperance,  Percy,  and  set  on.     1  H4  v.  2.  97. 
Dieu  de  batail-/es!     Where  have  they  this  mettle? 
"  Viv-e  le  roi,"  as  I  have  bankt  their  towns.    K.  J.  v.  2.  104. 
Cf.  A  wise  stout  cap(0tani  and  soon  persuaded.    3  HG  iv.  7.  30;  Mcb.  i.  2.  34. 
Great  mar(e)shal  to  Hen-r-y  the  Sixth.    1  HS  iv.  7.  70. 
Sink-a-pace  for  cinque  pace.    T.  N.  i.  3.  139. 


V.    ALEXANDRINES. 

By  means  of  the  above  contractions,  softenings,  etc.,  the  reader  may 
avoid  the  so-calTd  "  extra  "  syllables  in  many  of  the  trisyllabic  measures. 
To  know  when  to  contract  and  when  to  resolve,  however,  will  depend  very 
much  upon  his  musical  ear  and  metrical  taste.  Bear  in  mind  what  has  been 
thrown  out  about  the  "  time-allotment "  of  each  bar  and  about  the  ry thmical 
sentence-  and  verse-accent.  (Cf.  Sievers,*  §§  25,  32-34.)  Don't  try  to  scan ; 

*  "  Wir  verstehen  jetzt  unter  der  Accentuirung  eines  Wortes  die  relative  Charakteristik 
aller  seiner  Silben,  unter  Satzaccentuirung  die  relative  Charakteristik  aller  Theile  einea 
Satzes."  (p.  177.)  Cf.  SWEET,  §  259  :  "  The  only  phonetic  function  of  word-division  is  to  indi- 
cate occasionally  the  syllable-divisions  in  sentences.  .  .  .  Word-division  is  perfectly  useless  to 
those  readers  who  are  practically  familiar  with  the  particular  language :  they  do  not  hear  any 
word-division  in  rapid  speech,  and  require  it  still  less  in  slow,  deliberate  reading."  §  314.  (Cf. 
p.  115,  and  ELLIS,  p  1206.)  On  pp.  117-119,  Sweet  prints  a  passage  of  Tennyson's  blank  verse, 
"  The  Passing  of  Arthur,"  Shelley's  "To-Night,"  and  Keats's  "  In  a  Drear-nighted  December," 
representing  graphically  his  own  natural  syllable-accentuation.  Cf.  F.  TECHMER,  Die  Silbe, 
Internationale  Zeitschrift,  Th.  I.  pp.  167-170.  Leipzig,  1884.  And  ELLIS, On  Accent  and  Em* 
phasis,  Phil.  Soc.  Trans. ,  1873-74,  p.  128  ff.  "  Of  course  the  ordinary  spelling-book  syllabi- 


20 

but  aim  at  the  sense.  (See  p.  21,  Emerson.)  "Be  not  too  tame  neither/' 
that  is,  too  slow.  Head  easily  and  naturally ;  and  just  as  in  a  musical  "  air 
with  variations  "  the  melody  of  the  "  air  "  is  never  wholly  obscured  by  the 
"  variations,"  so  the  characteristic  type  of  Shakspere's  verse  will  maintain 
itself  through  all  the  ry thmical  variations ;  the  "  extra  "  syllables  will  of 
themselves  appropriate  their  rightful  "  time-allotment,"  most  of  them  will  be 
obscured  in  pronunciation  to  the  uniform  vowel  sound  9  (but),  and  many 
of  them  will  disappear  altogether.  Five  stress-periods,  however,  will  be  dis- 
tinctly markt :  varying  in  emphasis,  to  be  sure,  but  rarely  exceeding  five 
in  number.  For  the  imported  French  heroic  verse  of  six  feet  in  two  halves, 
each  with  three  accents,  tho  poems  in  this  metre  usherd  in  the  Eliza- 
bethan era,*  was  never  quite  in  the  spirit  of  English  versification.  That 
Shakspere  uses  it  occasionally  for  variety  t  is  not  surprising,  considering  the 
place  it  filid  in  literature  in  his  time ;  but  its  slow,  crawling  movement  is, 

fication  is  pure  nonsense.  .  .  .  The  division  of  words  was  not  marked  in  the  older  Greek  or  in 
Sanskrit.  In  English,  any  one  who  compares  the  written  with  the  spoken  divisions  must  feel 
how  arbitrary  the  former  are,  and  how  widely  the  two  divisions  disagree.  .  .  .  Now  the  specific 
differences  on  which  alone  depend  the  effects  known  as  accent  and  emphasis  form  two  distinct 
classes  according  as  they  are  fixt  or  free.  The  first  class  includes  accent  and  the  native  in- 
tonation of  sentences ;  the  free  class  then  includes  emphasis  and  rhetorical  expression. 
The  means  at  the  disposal  of  speakers  for  both  classes  are  length,  pitch,  force,  and  form,  with 
their  successions  and  glides.  But  different  languages  differ  greatly  in  their  arrangement  of 
these  as  fixt  and  free.  .  .  .  Laconically  English  accent  may  be  defined  as  fixt  force  and  free 
pitch.  (So  German  and  Italian,  but  in  French,  force  and  pitch,  and  even  length,  are  practically 
free ;  hence  there  is  no  accent,  but  only  emphasis.)  In  the  classical  languages,  length  was 
fixt,  and  also  the  direction  of  the  change  of  pitch  ;  but  force  was  probably  free."  Cf.  his  Quan- 
titative Pronunciation  of  Latin,  Cap.  V.  The  logical  accent  will  of  course  vary  with  each 
individual's  interpretation  ot  the  text.  The  rythmical  accent,  on  the  other  hand,  (charac- 
terizd  by  increase  of  intensity,  not  by  change  of  pitch,)  occurs  regularly,  and  marks  the 
verse-bars ;  the  effect  of  the  rythmic  accent  is  therefore  to  establish  a  definit  rythm  for  the 
ear,  while  that  of  the  logical  accent  is  to  disestablish,  this  rythm  by  differently  timed  recur- 
rences which  set  up  different  groupings  of  two  three,  or  more  bars.  Cf.  LANIER,  p.  87. 

*  "  Poems  in  this  metre  ushered  in  the  aera  of  Elizabeth  ;  and  no  one  can  look  with  other 
feelings  than  respect  upon  the  favourite  rhythm  of  a  Howard,  a  Sidney,  and  a  Drayton."  — 
GUEST,  Hist.  Eng.  Rythms,  I.  255. 

t  For  example,  see  H.  iv.  5  141,  quoted  below.  For  a  complete  list  of  Shakspere's  Alexan- 
drines, see  Mr.  Fleay's  exhaustiv  paper  in  INGLEBY'S  Shakspere :  The  Man  and  the  Book, 
Part  II.  (1881),  p.  71  ff.,  in  which  all  his  earlier  metrical  tables,  etc.  are  revisd  and  enlargd. 
Up  to  All 's  Well  and  Measure  for  Measure,  the  number  of  Alexandrines  varies  from  half  a 
dozen  to  a  dozen  in  each  play  (except  R.  J.,  surreptitiously  printed  with  27,  all  of  which  were 
corrected  in  Q2,  and  R2  with  54,  all  of  which  ought  to  hav  been  similarly  corrected,  but  un- 
accountably escapd).  Shakspere's  "Third  Period  "  begins  in  A.  W.  and  M.  M.  with  a  larger 
proportion  of  Alexandrines,  and  with  the  still  more  decisiv  change  in  the  markt  increase  of 
*«  extra  mid-syllables  "  before  the  main  caesura  ;  it  begins  to  close  with  the  appearance  in  Lear 
of  a  new  kind  of  Alexandrine,  having  a  pause  after  the  second  syllable.  This  is  common  to  the 
"  Fourth  Period,"  which  is  characterizd  not  only  by  a  larger  proportion  of  Alexandrines,  but 
also  by  an  increast  number  of  caesuras  after  the  second,  fourth,  fifth,  seventh,  ninth,  and 
tenth  syllables  ;  by  an  increase  of  brokn  lines,  of  feminine  and  weak  endings,  and  by  a  corre- 
sponding decrease  of  rymed  and  end-stopt  lines.  See  Appendix  on  the  Verse  Tests. 


21 

as  we  shall  see,  quite  foreign  to  his  color-full  rythmic  variation  of  the  3-rythm 
type.     (On  the  term  3-rythm,  see  p.  32.) 

An  interesting  confirmation  of  this  view  is  furnisht  by  the  corroborativ 
evidence  of  the  verse-tests,  when  applied  to  the  question  of  the  divided 
authorship  of  H8,  first  suspected  on  moral  and  aesthetic  grounds.  Tennyson, 
in  his  undergraduate  days  (1829-33),  usd  to  read  to  his  friends  the  genuine 
parts  of  this  play,  and  Emerson,  in  Representative  Men  (publisht  1850),  little 
suspecting  Fletcher,  said  :  — 

"  In  Henry  VIII.  I  think  I  see  plainly  the  cropping  out  of  the  original  rock  on 
which  his  own  finer  stratum  was  laid.  The  first  play  was  written  by  a  superior, 
thoughtful  man,  with  a  vicious  ear.  I  can  mark  his  lines,  and  know  well  their 
cadence.  See  Wolsey's  soliloquy,  and  the  following  scene  with  Cromwell,  where, 
instead  of  the  metre  of  Shakspeare,  whose  secret  is  that  the  thought  constructs  the 
tune,  so  that  reading  for  the  sense  will  best  bring  out  the  rhythm,  —  here  the  lines 
are  constructed  on  a  given  tune,  and  the  verse  has  even  a  trace  of  pulpit  eloquence." 

A  careful  comparison  of  this  scene  with  any  of  Shakspere's  undoubted 
work  (act  i.  scs.  2,  3  :  ii.  3,  4;  iii.  2  (to  203) ;  and  v.  1)  will  reveal  the  secret 
of  the  immense  musical  difference  between  them.  For  while  Shakspere's 
double-ending  lines  are  nearly  all  "  run  on,"  thereby  varying  the  rhythm, 
without  destroying  the  five-barrd  metrical  type  of  the  blank  verse,  Fletcher's, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  nearly  all  "end-stopt  "  ;  the  "extra"  syllable,  owing 
to  the  pause,  seems  to  begin  a  sixth  bar,  and  the  slow,  heavy,  un-Shaksperean 
rhythm  is  therefore  due  to  the  fact  that  Fletcher's  lines  are  really  Alexan- 
drines with  a  deficient  final  syllable.  E.  g. :  — 

Farewell !  |  a  long  |  farewell,*  ||  to  all  j  my  gr^at  |  nSss  J      | 
This  is  |  the  state  |  of  man :  ||  to-day  |  he  puts  |  forth       | 
The  ten  j  der  leaves  j  of  hope ;  ||  to-mor  |  row  bios  |  soms,       | 
And  bears  |  his  blush  |  ing  hon  |  ors  thick  |  upon  |  him ;       j 
The  third  |  day  comes  |  a  frost,  ||  a  kfll  |  ing  frost,  j  | 

And,  when  |  he  thinks,  |  good  ea  |  sy  man  I  full  sure  |  If     | 
His  great  |  ness  is  |  a  ripen  |  ing,  nips  |  his  root,  j  j 

And  then  |  he  falls  |  as  I  |  do,  etc.    iii.  2.  351  ff. 

Yet  Ellis  says  that  "  Shakspere  seems  never  to  hesitate  to  use  a  pure 
Alexandrine  when  it  suits  his  convenience  " ;  and  he  considers  Abbott's 
"  trimeter  couplet  "  t  but  a  difference  of  terms  ;  for  "  the  true  Alexandrine 
lias  a  pause  at  the  end  of  the  third  measure"  (p.  943).  Ellis  distinguishes 
well-  and  lightly-markt  Alexandrines  (pp.  945-946),  aad  evn  adds  some 
resulting  from  resolutions  (p.  952). 

*  C£  FLETCHER'S  Cupid's  Revenge,  iv.  4 :  «  Farewell ! 

To  all  our  happiness,  a  long  farewell !  " 

t  Apparent  Alexandrines  are  often  couplets  of  two  verses  of  three  accents  each.  They  are 
often  thus  printed  as  two  short  veraee  in  Ff.  But  the  degree  of  separatenesa  between  the  two 
verses  varies  greatly.  ABB.  600. 


22 


A  few  comparisons,  however,  will  reveal  the  artificial  un-Shaksperean 
accentuation  of  some  of  Mr.  Ellis's  "  well-markt  Alexandrines."  (  Vid.  his 
own  definition  of  Shakspere's  verse,  p.  5.)  Compare  : 

The  fliix  |  of  com  |  pany.  ||  Anon  |  a  care  |  less    hdrd.    A.  Y.  ii.  1.  52,  with 
A  A  A  A  A 


The     flux 


com-pany.      A    -non 


And 


care-    less    herd.* 

[Cf.  III.  6. 

Tho'  yet  of  Hamlet  our  dear  brother's  death, 
The  mem  |  ory  |  be  green,  ||  and  that  |  it  us  j  be-fitted 
To  bear  our  hearts  in  grief.  ...    II.  i.  2.  1.    Compare  with 

A  A  A  A  A  A 


The  mem'    ry  be   green,  and  that    it      us      be  -  fitted      or,  be  -  fit.' 

(III.  8.) 

Now  see  commendable,  M.  V.  i.  1.  Ill,  and  contrast  Ellis's  reading:  — 
'Tis  swe"et  |  and  com  |  men-da  |  ble  in  |  your  na  j  ture,  Hamlet.  H.  i.  2. 87,  with 
A  A  A  A  A  A 


'Tis  sweet   and  commend"  -  ble    in  your  na  -  ture,  Hamlet,  or,  and  commend'ble. 

Cf.  As  chil  1  dren  from  |  a  bear  j|  the  V61 1  sees  shun  |  ning  him.     Cor.  i.  3.  34,  and 
A  A  A  A  A 


childr'w    from  a     bear     the    Vol  -  sees    shun  -  ning  him. 

So,      Allm6r|tal  c6n|seque"n||ces  have  |  pronounced  |  me  thus.     Mcb.  v.  3.  5. 
A~  mor  1  tal  cons  \  'quence(s)  ||  have  |  pronounced  |  me  thus. 

I  prom  |  ise  you  |  I  am  |  afraid  |  to  hdar  |  you  te"ll  It.     Cor.  i.  4.  65. 
I  prom'se  |   you  I  'm  |  afraid  |  to  he'ar  |  you  tell 't. 

Come  sfs  |  ter,  cous  |  in,  I  |  would  say,  |  pray  par  1  don  me*.    R2  ii.  2.  105. 
Come  sis  |  ter,  cons' n,  \  Pd  say  |  pray  par  |  don  me". 

Anne.    I  would  I  knew  thy  h^art.  ||  Glou.     'T  is  ftgured  fn  my  tongue. 
Anne.    I  fdar  me  both  are  false.  ||  Glou.     Then  ndver  man  was  true. 
Anne.    Well,  w^ll,  put  dp  your  sword.  ||  Glou.   Say  tbdn  my  peace  is  made. 

R3  i.  2.  193. 


"  On  the  musical  notation,  see  p.  31,  note,  and  p.  32. 


23 

The  pause  may  perhaps  justify  the  last  as  "trimeter  couplets."  The  fol- 
lowing, however,  are  genuine  Alexandrines.  (Notice  the  caesuras.) 

(Spenserian.)     And  these  |  does  she  |  apply  |  for  warn  |  ings  and  |  portents. 
J.  C.  iii.  1.  23.        Cf.  L.  L.  L.  v.  2.  261;  M.  V.  ii.  9.  25;  T.  L  2.  236. 

(2d  syl.}  Whip  him.  \\  Were  't  twen  |  ty  of  |  the  great  |  est  trib  |  utaries.  A.  C. 
iii.  13.  96. 

(M  f)     Rinal  \  do,  \\  you  |  did  nev  |  er  lack  j  advice  |  so  much.    A.  W.  iii.  4. 19. 

(4?A.)  Shall  there  |  attend  you.  \\  My  re  |  compense  |  is  thanks,  |  that's  all.  P. 
iii.  4.  16. 

(5th.)    I  '11  no  |  gainsay  |  ing.  ||  Press  j  me  not,  |  I  beseech  |  you,  so.     W.  T.  i. 

2.  li).     This  pause  is  characteristic  of  W.  T.,  as  (8)  is  of  HS.     (FLEAY,  /.  c.,  p.  90.) 
(6th.  French.)    Of  your  j  dear  fa  |  ther's  death,  ||  is't  writ  |  in  your  |  revenge. 

II.  iv.  5.  141. 

(7th.)    In  mon  |  ument  |  al  mock  |  ery.  ||  Take  |  the  in  |  stant  way.     T.  C.  iii. 

3.  153. 

(8^.)  More  worth  |  than  emp  |  ty  van  J  zties;  ||  Yet  prayers  |  and  wishes.  H8 
ii.  3.  69. 

At  Mar  |  ia  |  na's  house  |  to-night.  ||  Her  cause  |  and  yours.    M.  M.  iv.  3.  145. 
Marian's?  as  Helen  for  Helena,  M.  N.  D.  i.  1.  208.    Cf.  Cor.  v.  1.  68. 

(9^.)    The  os  |  tenta  |  tion  of  |  our  love  |  which,  ||  left  |  unshown.  A.  C.  iii.  6.  51. 

(Wth.)  Let  it  j  be  grant  j  ed  you  |  have  seen  |  all  this  ||  —  and  praise.  Cy.  ii.  4. 92. 

(llth?)  The  war  |  like  ser  |  vice  he  |  has  done  |  consid  |  er:  ||  think.  Cor.  iii.  3.  49. 

Cf.  A  cherry  Mp,  a  bonny  eye,  a  passing,  pleasing  tongue.  R3  i.  1.  94,  seven 
measures ! 

Cf.  also  T.  A.  i.  1.  203,  a  saturnine;  and  L.  L.  L.  ii.  1.  232  ff.,  4-rhythm. 

Lines  with  four  accents  are  very  rare,  unless  there  is,  (1.)  a  pause,*  or 
(2.)  interruption  in  the  line.  When  there  is  (3.)  a  change  of  thought,  they 
are  not  uncommon.  This  is  calld  the  logical  pause. 

(1.)  Must  give  us  pause,  i '  |  There  *s  the  respe'ct.     H.  iii.  1.  68. 

(2.)  He  's  ta'en.     [Shout.]     And  hark,  they  shout  for  joy.     J.  C.  v.  3.  32. 

(3.)  Let  us  withdraw.  | '  |  'T  will  be  a  storm.     K.  L.  ii.  4.  290. 

Dramatic  speeches  oftn  do  not  fit  at  the  end ;  and  interjectional  and  par- 
tial lines  are  not  infrequently  met  with,  particularly  in  scenes  where  passion 
is  at  its  height.  Vid.  K.  L.  iv.  6.  112,  sqq.,  198,  sqq.  The  highest  passion 
expresses  itself  in  prose.  O.  iv.  1.  34-44. 

*  On  the  rythmical  value  of  the  pause,  vid.  LANIER,  p.  187,  ff. 


24 


APPENDIX   I. 

ON  THE  VALUE  OF  THE  VERSE  TESTS  IN  ESTABLISHING  THE 
CHRONOLOGICAL  ORDER  OF  SHAKSPERE'S  PLAYS. 

Whatever  may  be  the  value  of  possessing  the  chronological  order  of 
Shakspere's  plays,*  it  must  be  admitted  that  nothing  of  late  years  has  con- 
tributed more  to  fixing  that  order  than  the  critical  investigation  of  the  poet's 
versification  which  has  been  made  chiefly  by  the  members  of  the  New  Shak- 
spere  Society.!  Some  of  the  results  of  their  work  may  be  indicated  by 
comparing  the  chief  metrical  characteristics  of  the  earliest  and  the  latest 
plays.  In  the  early  plays,  for  example,  not  only  do  the  lines  themselves 
pause  at  the  end,  without  any  "extra"  syllables,  but  there  is  a  pause  in  the 
sense  there  as  well.  The  proportion  of  the  "  run-on  "  lines  to  these  "  end- 
stopt "  lines,  as  they  are  called,  in  L.  L.  L.  (Shakspere's  first  genuine  play),  is 
1  in  18.14,  or  5.5  % ;  in  W.  T.  it  is  1  in  2.12  or  47.2  %.  This  is  Mr.  Furnivall's 
"  end-stopt  test,"  first  employed  by  Bathurst  in  1857.  (See  Introduction  to 
the  Leopold  Shakspere,  §76  (2),  and Gervinus's  Commentaries,  p.  xxv.)  Count- 
ing by  speeches  instead  of  by  lines,  this  test  reveals  a  similar  falling  off  in 
speeches  ending  with  the  end  of  the  line,  and  a  corresponding  increase  of 
speeches  ending  in  the  middle  of  the  line.  In  C.  ofE.,  for  example,  1  speech 
in  81.33  is  mid-stopt,  or  1.23  % ;  in  W.  T.,  1  in  1.49  or  66.9  %  !  This  is  Prof. 
Ingram's  "  speech-ending  "  test  workt  out  by  Mr.  Pulling  (N.  Sh.  Soc.  Trans., 
1877-79,  iii.,  p.  458.)  In  like  manner,  dissyllabic  or  feminine  endings  increase 
from4%inZ.L.Z.  to  44%  in  n* !  HERTZBERG,  Pref.  to  Cymbeline.  The 
proportion  of  lines  containing  "  extra  mid-syllables  "  (i.  e.  before  the  caesural 
pause)  to  blank-verse  lines  varies,  for  example,  from  1  in  286  or  0.35  %  in 

*  Cf.  FURNESS'S  Variorum,  Lear,  p.  382.  For  lists  of  the  various  evidences  of 
chronological  sequence,  external  and  internal,  see  DOWDEN'S  Primer,  Chap.  IV«, 
J.  W.  HALES  in  London  Academy,  Jan.  17,  1874,  and  DR.  INGLEBY'S  Shakspere: 
The  Man  and  Book,  Pt.  II.,  1881.  The  latter  contains  the  latest  and  most  com- 
prehensiv  summary.  For  history  of  the  verse  tests,  see  PROF.  INGRAM' s  paper  in 
N.  Sh.  Soc.  Trans.,  1874,  p.  442. 

f  "  The  New  Shakspere  Society  was  founded  in  the  autumn  of  1873,  to  do  honour 
to  SHAKSPERE,  to  make  out  the  succession  of  his  plays,  and  thereby  the  growth  of 
his  mind  and  art,  to  promote  the  intelligent  study  of  him,  and  to  print  texts  illus- 
trating his  works  and  his  times/'  — First  Report,  July,  1875. 

"Never  before  had  the  importance  of  studying  Shakspere  as  a  whole,  of  ascer- 
taining, on  evidence,  the  order  of  his  plays,  and  then  following,  carefully  and 
lovingly,  the  development  of  his  mind  and  its  expression  in  verse,  been  duly  insisted 
on,  or  the  methods  and  facts  of  the  case  set  forth.  But  henceforward  the  principles 
advocated  by  the  Society  from  its  foundation  are  part  and  parcel  of  the  Shakspere 
criticism  of  the  present  and  the  future."  —  Second  Report,  August,  1879 


25 


T.  G.  to  1  in  28.1  or  3.56  %  in  W.  T. !  This  last  test  of  Mr.  Fleay's  (Ingleby 
I.e.)  is  the  only  one  resembling  the  pause-test  suggested  by  Mr.  Spedding, 
N.  Sh.  Soc.  Trans.,  1874,  p.  20.  Again,  in  the  early  plays,  the  youthful  poet 
naturally  made  free  use  of  ryme.  L.  L.  L.,  for  example,  contains  two  rymed 
lines  to  one  of  blank  verse  ;  T.,  on  the  other  hand,  has  but  two  rymed  lines 
altogether,  and  W.  T.  not  one  !  This  is  Mr.  Fleay's  "  ryme-test."  (N.  Sh. 
Soc.  Trans.,  1874.  Shakspere  Manual,  1876.  Applied  to  all  extant  plays  from 
1590-1G40  in  Ingleby's  Shakspere :  Man  and  Book,  II.,  p.  57  ff.)  Furthermore, 
the  early  plays  contain  no  "  light  "  or  "  weak  "  endings.  Light  endings  (per- 
sonal and  relative  pronouns,  auxiliaries,  etc.,  allowing  a  slight  pause)  appear  in 
considerable  numbers  for  the  first  time  in  Mcb.  Weak  endings  (proclitics  : 
prepositions  and  conjunctions,  allowing  no  pause),  first  in  A.  C.  This  is  Prof. 
Ingram's  test,  which,  combined  with  the  others,  is  very  effectiv  in  fixing 
the  order  of  the  fourth  period  plays.  ( Vid.  N.  Sh.  Soc.  Trans.,  1874,  pp.  448- 
450,  where  table  of  proportions  and  lists  of  endings  may  be  found.  These 
lists  are  corrected  and  enlargd  by  the  test-committee  of  the  St.  Petersburg 
Shakspere  Circle  in  Englische  Studien,  III.  Bd.  3  heft,  p.  483  ff.)  The  follow- 
ing table  will  show  at  a  glance  the  results  of  the  above  tests  applied  to  the 
three  earliest  and  the  four  latest  plays  :  — 


j 

jj 

2 

g 

II 

a 

A 

M 

o 

w 

U 

Q  « 

Name  of 
Play. 

Proportion  of 
Run-on  Lines. 

9    3 

£« 

Proportion  of 
Mid-stopt  Spee 

Percentage  of 
Mid-stopt  Spee 

Proportion  of 
Mid-syllables. 

Percentage  of 
Mid-syllables. 

Percentage  of 
or  Feminine  Ei 

Percentage  of 
Light  Endings 

Percentage  of 
Weak  Ending* 

Proportion  of 
Ryme  Lines  to 
Blank  Verse. 

Love's  Labor's  Lost 

1  in  18.4 

5.5 

Iinl7.6* 

5.81 

0 

0 

4 

8t 

0 

1  in  .58 

Comedy  of  Errors 

1  in  10.7 

9.3 

lin  81.33 

1.23 

0 

0 

12 

0 

0 

lin  3 

Two  (lent,  of  Verona 

lin  10 

10 

lin  21.54 

4.64 

lin  286 

.35 

15 

0 

0 

lin  11 

lin  3.02 

RRR 

1  in  1  61 

61  86 

1  in  42  1 

?R7 

33 

2  88 

1  71 

1  in  729 

Cymbeline  "  

1  in  2.52 

R97 

1  in  1  66 

60  36 

1  in  32  4 

R  00 

32 

9  90 

1  93 

1  in  30 

Winter's  Tale    .  .  . 

1  in  2.12 

47.2 

1  in  1.49 

66.93 

1  in  28.1 

3.56 

31.09 

3.12 

2.36 

lill    00 

Henry  VHE    .... 

1  in  2.03 

49.2 

1  in  1.5* 

65.59 

1  in  33.5 

2.70 

44 

3.93 

3.23 

liii  oo 

*  My  own  count.  Total  speeches  in  L.  L.  L.,  1128;  prose  526,  verse  602 :  part-line  116, 
single-line  221,  song  11,  end-stopt  219,  mid-stopt  35,  of  which  9  are  followd  by  speeches  be- 
ginning with  the  beginning  of  the  line.  If  these  be  reckond  as  part-line  speech-endings,  the 
proportion  is  1  in  23.15  or  4.32%,  thereby  bringing  the  play  nearer  to  its  rightful  position. 
Total  speeches  in  IP  (Shakspere's  part)  279,  all  verse :  part-line  63,  single-line  12,  end-stopt  22, 
mid-stopt  182,  only  8  of  which  are  followd  by  speeches  beginning  with  the  beginning  of  the 
line,  and  6  of  these  occur  at  the  entrance  or  exit  of  a  speaker. 

t  Total  number. 


26 

"  On  the  whole,  then,"  says  Mr.  Fleay,  in  his  latest  paper,  "  we  may  say 
that  by  means  of  metrical  tests  we  can  always  distinguish,  generally  deter- 
mine authorship,  and  usually  ascertain  at  what  period  of  an  author's  life  a 
work  was  written.  The  conclusions  drawn  by  me  as  to  authorship  or  date 
are  always  based  on  large  numerical  differences.  ...  To  the  fallacy  of  the 
exact  percentage-differential  doctrine,  however,  the  ryme  test  is  an  impor- 
tant exception.  Not  only  is  there  a  gradual  disuse  of  ryme  by  every  author 
from  1590-1 640  as  he  grows  older,  but  there  is  also  a  growing  dislike  on  the 
part  of  the  public  to  the  mixture  of  ryme  and  verse."  (Mr.  Fleay  cites  as 
one  proof,  a  scene  from  HEY  WOOD'S  Royal  King  and  Loyal  Subject,  acted  in 
1603  but  not  publisht  till  1637.  Many  rymed  lines  hav  evidently  been 
alterd  to  unrymed  lines,  to  suit  the  changd  fashion  of  the  times  which  the 
author  describes  in  the  prolog.  Revision,  therefore,  and  alteration,  must 
always  be  taken  into  consideration  in  applying  the  tests.)  "For  general 
chronological  arrangement,  then,"  he  concludes,  "  I  attach  the  highest  im- 
portance to  this  ryme  test.  For  separating  the  periods  of  Shakspere's  work 
I  rank  the  weak-ending  test  first  in  distinguishing  the  third  and  fourth 
periods  ;  the  extra-middle  syllable  for  separating  the  second  and  the  third ; 
the  ryme  test  for  separating  the  first  and  second.  For  determining  where 
revision  has  been  at  work,  the  short  lines,  especially  at  the  beginning  and 
end  of  speeches,  are  most  useful." 

When  these  verse  tests,  then,  corroborate  the  external  evidence  and  the 
conclusions  of  the  higher  criticism  based  upon  the  evidence  of  gradually 
improving  style  and  taste,  profounder  characterization,  deeper  reflection  and 
pathos,  loftier  imagination  and  passion,  broader  humanity,  and  steadier 
moral  grip,  —  evidence  no  less  conclusiv  because  it  cannot  be  definitly 
stated  or  numerically  measurd,  —  it  will  be  seen  that  the  critical  study  of 
the  Poet's  versification  has  not  been  without  valuable  results  in  helping  to 
reveal  to  lovers  of  Shakspere  "the  greater  Man  than  all  his  works,"  and  in 
bringing  about  those  conditions  which  have  made  possible  "  a  new  Victorian 
school  of  Shakspereans,"  and  the  production  of  such  books  as  DOWDEH'S 
Shakspere :  His  Mind  and  Art. 

The  following  table  will  show,  in  parallel  columns,  Dr.  Dowden's  and  Mr. 
Furnivall's  arrangement  of  the  groups  and  the  succession  of  the  plays.* 

*  "  The  student  will  observe  in  my  arrangement  early,  middle,  and  later  Comedy ;  early, 
middle,  and  later  History  ;  and  early,  middle,  and  later  Tragedy.  Not  only  is  it  well  to  view 
the  entire  body  of  Shakspere's  plays  in  the  order  of  their  chronological  succession,  but  also  to 
trace  in  chronological  order  the  three  separate  lines  of  Comedy,  History,  and  Tragedy." 
DOWDEN,  Mind  and  Art,  p.  x.,  18793.  "  It  would  for  many  reasons  be  important  and  interest- 
ing to  ascertain  the  date  at  which  each  work  of  Shakspere  came  into  existence  ;  but  as  a  fact 
this  has  not  been  accomplished,  and  we  may  safely  say  that  it  never  will  be  accomplished.  To 
understand  in  all  essentials  the  history  of  Shakspere's  character  and  art,  we  have  obtained 
what  is  absolutely  necessary,  when  we  have  made  out  the  succession,  not  of  Shakspere's  plays, 
but  of  his  chief  visions  of  truth,  his  most  intense  moments  of  inspiration,  his  greater  discov- 
eries about  human  life."  Ib.  p.  378. 


27 


FIRST  PERIOD. 


DOWDEN. 


"  In  the  Workshop." 

1.  Pre-Shaksperean  Group. 

(Toucht  by  Shakspere.) 
1588-90.     Titus  Andronicus.     (Blood, 

bombast,  and  fire.) 
1590-91.    1  Henry  VI. 

2.  Early  Comedies. 

1590.  Love's  Labour  's  Lost. 

1591.  Comedy  of  Errors. 
1592-3.     Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona. 
1593-4.     Midsummer  Night's  Dream. 

3.   Early  History  and  Poems. 

(Marlowe-Shakspere  Group.) 
1591-2.     2,  3  Henry  VI. 

1593.  Richard  III. 

?  1592.     Venus  and  Adonis. 
1593-4.     Lucrece. 

4.  Early  Tragedy. 

1591,     Romeo  and  Juliet.     1596-7. 

5.  Middle  History. 

1594.  Richard  II. 

1595.  King  John. 


FURNIVAI/L. 
V  1588-1594. 


a.  Titus  Andronicus  (not  Shakspere's) 


b.   The  Mistaken-Identity  Group. 
?  1588-9.     Love's  Labours  Lost. 

?  1589.     Comedy  of  Errors. 
?  1590-1.    Midsummer  Night's  Dream. 

c.   Link  Play. 
1590-1.     Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona. 

d.  The  Passion  Group. 
1591-3.     Romeo  and  Juliet. 

1593.     Venus  and  Adonis. 
1593-4.     Lucrece. 
1588-99.    Passionate  Pilgrim. 

e.  The  Early  Histories. 
?1593.    Richard'll. 

?  1592-4.     1,  2,  3  Henry  VI. 
?  1594.     Richard  III. 


SECOND   PERIOD. 


"  In  the  World." 

6.   Middle  Comedy. 
1595.     Merchant  of  Venice. 

7.   Later  History. 
(History  and  comedy  united.) 
1597-8.     1/2  Henry  IV. 
1599.     Henry  V. 

8.  Later  Comedy. 
(a.)  Rough  and  boisterous. 
?  1597.     Shrew. 

?  1598.     Merry  Wives.    (No  sadness.) 
(b. )     Joyous,  refined,  romantic. 

1598.  Much  Ado.      (Musical    sad- 

ness. ) 

1599.  As   You  Like  It.     (Jacques, 

link  to  the  next  group.) 
1600-1.     Twelfth  Night. 


? 1595-1601. 

a.   The  Life-Plea  Group. 
?  1595.     King  John. 
?  1596.     Merchant  of  Venice. 

b.  A  Farce. 

V 1596-7.     Taming  of  the  Shrew. 
c.   Falstaff.     Trilogy  of  Henry  IV.,  V. 
1596-7.     1  Henry  IV. 
1597-8.     2  Henry  IV. 
1598-9.     Merry  Wives. 

1599.  Henry  V. 

d.    The  Sunny  or  Sweet  Tune  Come- 
dies. 
1599-1600.     Much  Ado. 

1600.  As  You  Like  It. 

1601.  Twelfth  Night. 


28 


(c.)    Discordant  sadness. 
1601-2.    All 's  Well.  (Serious  earnest.) 
1603.    Measure  for  Measure.     (Se- 
vere, dark.) 
?  1603.     Troilus,  1607.    (Bitter,  ironical.) 


e.  The  Darkening  Comedy, 
1601-2.    All's  Well. 
f.    Sonnets. 
(?  1595-1605,  Dowden.) 


THIRD   PERIOD. 


11  Out  of  the  Depths." 
9.  Middle  Tragedy. 

1601.  Julius    Ccesar.      (Error   and 
misfortune  rather  than  crime.) 

1602.  Hamlet. 


10.   Later  Tragedy. 

1604.  Othello.    (Jealousy  and  mur- 

der.) 

1605.  Lear.     (Ingratitude  and  par- 

ricide.) 

1606.  Macbeth.      (Ambition      and 

murder.) 

1607.  Antony  and    Cleopatra  (Vo- 

luptuousness). 

1608.  Coriolanus  (Alienation  from 

country). 

1607-8.     Timon  (Alienation  from  hu- 
manity). 
(  Timon  is  the  climax !) 


1601-1608. 
a.  Unfit  Nature,  Under-Burden-failing 

Group. 
1601.     Julius  Ccesar. 

1602-3.     Hamlet. 

7  1603.     Measure  for  Measure, 
b.   The  Tempter-yielding  Group. 

?1604.     Othello. 
1605-6.     Macbeth. 

c.  1st.  Ingratitude,  Cursing  Play. 
1605-0.     King  Lear. 

d.  The  Lust  or  False-Love  Group. 
71606-7.     Troilus  and  Cressida. 

71606-7.     Antony  and  Cleopatra. 

e.  2d.  Ingratitude,  Cursing  Group. 

V 1607-8.     Coriolanus.     (Haughtiness.) 
?  1607-8.     Timon.    (Misanthropy.) 


FOURTH  PERIOD. 


"  On  the  Heights.' 


11.  Romances. 

1608.  Pericles  (Marina). 

1609.  Cymbeline. 

1610.  Tempest. 
1610-11.     Winter's  Tale. 

12.  Fragments. 
1612.     Two  Noble  Kinsmen. 

1612-13.    Henry  VIII. 


1609-1613. 
Reunion,  Reconciliation,  Forgiveness. 

a.    By  Men. 
1608-9.    Pericles. 
1609-10.     Tempest. 

b.    By  Women  (mainly). 
?1610.     Cymbeline. 

1611.     Winter's  Tale. 
1612-13.    Henry  VIII. 
1612-13.     Two  Noble  Kinsmen. 


29 


APPENDIX  II. 

DESCRIPTIV  LIST   OF  A  FEW  OF  THE    MOST    IMPORTANT 
WORKS   ON  ENGLISH  VERSE. 

In  addition  to  the  books  mentiond  in  the  note  to  the  Preface,  the  student 
who  wishes  to  continue  the  subject  with  the  help  of  the  very  latest  work  on 
phonetics  may  be  referrd  to  the  elaborate  analyses  of  audible  speech  (physical- 
acoustical,  after  HELMHOLTZ,  and  anatomical-physiological,  with  excellent  illus- 
trations of  the  organs  of  speech,  etc.,  etc.)  by  F.  TECHMER,  in  the  first  num- 
ber of  the  new  Internationale  Zeitung.*  The  numerous  plates  and  tables  will 
be  very  helpful,  evn  to  those  who  do  not  read  German.  The  notes  contain 
almost  a  complete  bibliografy  of  the  subject.  Cf.  his  PhonetiJc,  Leipzig,  1880. 
See  also  the  references  in  the  notes  to  pp.  11,  17,  19,  above,  and  cf.  W.  D. 
WHITNEY  on  The  Elements  of  English  Pronunciation,  in  his  Oriental  and  Lin- 
guistic Studies,  p.  202  ff.  (New  York,  1874). 

*  F.  TECHMER,  Naturwissenschaftliche  Analyse  und  Synthese  der  fforbaren 
;M3,  p.  69 ff.;  and  Transskription  mittels  der  Lateinischen  Kursivschrift,  p. 
171  ff.  of  the  new  Internationale  Zeitschrift  fiir  Allgemeine  Sprachwissenschaft, 
I.  Bd.  1.  heft,  Leipzig,  1884.  The  oft-repeated  query  may  recur  at  this  point :  What 
has  all  this  about  phonetics,  etc.,  to  do  with  Shakspere's  Versification,  or  with  Eng- 
lish Metre  ?  Unfortunately  the  query  itself  is  a  good  example  of  how  little  re- 
flection is  givn  to  this  branch  of  our  subject.  Mr.  Ruskin,  in  one  of  his  petulant 
moods,  once  wrote,  in  reply  to  a  request  for  his  interpretation  of  a  passage  in  Shak- 
spere  (Yon  gray  lines  that  fret  the  clouds,  J.  C.  ii.  1. 103,  104),  *«  You  say  not  one 
man  in  150  knows  what  the  line  means.  My  dear  Furnivall,  not  one  man  in  15,000 
in  the  nineteenth  century  knows,  or  ever  can  know,  what  any  line,  or  any  word 
means,  used  by  a  great  writer.  For  most  words  stand  for  things  that  are  seen,  or 
things  that  are  thought  of :  and  in  the  nineteenth  century  there  is  certainly  not  one 
man  IQ  15,000  who  ever  looks  at  anything,  and  not  one  in  15,000,000  capable  of  a 
thought."  The  proportion  may  not  be  quite  the  same  (  !),  but  how  few  of  us  really 
observ,  or  are  conscious  for  any  length  of  time,  that  we  read  and  write  one  lan- 
guage and  speak  a  very  different  one.  To  be  sure,  since  the  advent  of  the  printing- 
press,  with  its  manifold  reproductions,  the  "letter"  has  been  gradually  extending 
its  sole  original  function  of  representing  sound,  till  now  a  Frenchman,  for  example, 
can  learn  to  read  English  from  a  book,  and  an  Englishman  French.  The  readers, 
however,  hav  but  to  exchange  countries  and  becom  speakers,  to  realize  that  what 
they  hav  learnd  is  not  the  English,  not  the  French  language.  "  Language  is  made 
up  of  sounds,  not  letters.'11  The  divorce  of  sound  and  letter,  however,  has  now  con- 
tinued so  long  in  English,  that  English-speaking  people  hav  almost  completely  lost 
their  "phonetic  sense"  ;  so  that  this  subject  of  actual  sound  relations,  which  is  at 
once  one  of  the  most  essential,  and  in  other  countries  one  of  the  simplest,  in  language 
study,  has  to  be  pursued  and  applied  by  American  students,  not  only  with  earnest, 
conscious  effort,  but  in  the  face  of  no  little  conservativ  opposition.  But  as  "  we 


30 

Now  it  is  the  deficiency  in  this  physiological  analysis  of  sound  and  the  phe- 
nomena of  spokn  language  that  makes  the  early  works  on  English  Verse  now 
almost  valueless,  and  many  of  the  late  works  almost  irreconcilably  contradic- 
tory. MITFORD  (1804)  and  GUEST  (1838)  are  treasure-houses  of  examples, 
but  their  theories  are  erroneous  and  impracticable.  In  the  Transactions  of  the 
Philological  Society,  London,  1874,  p.  624,  PROF.  J.  B.  MAYOR,  in  an  article  en- 
titled Dr.  Guest  and  Dr.  Abbott  on  English  Metre,  characterizes  the  followers  of 
the  former  as  of  the  intuitivist  school,  and  the  followers  of  the  latter  as  of  the 
mechanical  routine  school.  (Cf.  ABBOTT'S  English  Lessons  for  English  People,  pp. 
152,  153.)  PROF.  MAYOR'S  own  idea  of  metrical  accent  is  that  it  amounts 
merely  to  "the  distinction  between  emphatic  and  unemphatic  syllables"  (p. 
637).  His  critical  examination  of  the  versification  of  Macbeth,  however,  in 
which  he  applies  his  (insufficient)  theory,  is  worth  consulting,  particularly  on 
the  subjects  of  contractions  and  Alexandrines  (Phil.  Soc. Trans.,  1875-76,  p.  414). 
The  first  clear  *  light  thrown  on  the  subject  was  by  MR.  ELLIS'S  valuable 
paper  on  The  Physical  Constituents  of  Accent  and  Emphasis  (Phil.  Soc.  Trans., 
1874,  p.  113).  He  there  distinguishes  in  the  sounds  of  spokn  verse :  length, 
pitch,  force,  and  form  (including  succession,  glide,  jump,  and  silence).  See 
above,  p.  19,  note.  And  in  the  Phil.  Soc.  Trans.  1876,  p.  443,  he  defines 
English  rythm  as  being  "  primarily  governed  by  alternations  and  groups  of 
strong  and  weak  syllables,  and  materially  influenced  by  alternations  and 
groups  of  long  and  short,  high  and  low,  heavy  and  light  syllables,  and  great  and 
small  pauses."  PROF.  MAYOR,  however,  (ib.t  454,)  objects  to  his  elaborate 
over-analysis,  saying  :  "  The  one  thing  to  attend  to  is  the  variation  of  force, 
arising  either  from  emphasis  in  the  case  of  monosyllables,  or  from  the  word- 
accent  in  polysyllables.  When  this  is  thoroughly  grasped,  it  may  be  well  to 

should  avoid  violent  revolution  in  the  words  and  externals  of  religion,"  so  we  should 
avoid  violent  revolution  in  the  words  and  externals  of  language  and  literature.  (Cf. 
MATTHEW  ARNOLD,  Last  Essays,  Works,  ed.  1883,  vol.  vii.  pp.  xxi,  xxix,  227;  and 
Introduction  to  the  Great  Prophecy  of  Israel's  Restoration,  1875 ;  and  his  latest  b<^K, 
Isaiah  of  Jerusalem,  1883.)  Yet  not  until  still  greater  effort  is  made  on  th^  part 
of  teachers,  at  least,  to  restore  this  lost  "phonetic  sense,"  or  to  arouse  tb<j  above- 
mentiond  complainants  to  an  appreciation  of  the  fact  that  it  is  lost,  and  on  the 
part  of  readers,  as  well  as  speakers,  of  the  living  English  language,  to  recognize  the 
importance  of  "sound"  knowledge,  can  we  hope  for  better  methods  or  more  satis- 
factory results  in  our  language  work,  particularly  in  such  matters  as  this  of  Versi- 
fication, where  the  rythm  entirely  depends,  not  upon  how  the  lines  look,  but  upon 
how  they  sound.  We  do  not  ask  for  a  radical  change  in  spelling,  but  merely  for  a 
disposition  to  recognize  the  living  reality  beneath  the  arbitrary  symbol.  It  is  n't 
encouraging  to  hav  every  attempt  to  find  out  and  show  the  thing  as  it  is  condem'd 
as  "  flat  burglary,"  or  worse,  on  our  (mythical)  "dear  old  mother  tongue." 

*  At  least  in  flashes.  This  brief  abstract,  like  all  the  others,  to  be  clearly  appre- 
hended, must  be  read  in  the  original  with  the  author's  illustrativ  examples.  There 
is,  of  course,  space  here  for  the  main  outlines  only,  —  the  most  important  points  in 
each  theory. 


31 

notice  how  the  rhythm  thus  obtained  receives  a  further  coloring  from  pitch, 
length,  or  silence,  from  alliteration,  and  in  various  other  ways,  but  all  these 
arc  secondary."  MR.  S.  H.  HODGSON,  on  the  other  hand,  (English  Verse,  in 
Outcast  Essays,  pp.  207-360,  London,  1881,)  tho  he  follows  ELLIS  in  recogniz- 
ing in  every  articulate  sound  four  inseparable  elements,  duration,  pitch  or  ac- 
cent, color  or  tone,  and  loudness  or  force,  — thinks  that  there  is  more  difference 
between  time,  the  quantitative  element,  and  the  three  qualitative  elements  of 
sound,  than  there  is  between  these  three  among  themselves  (p.  227).  Yet, 
while  agreeing  with  MR.  COVENTRY  PATMORE  that  stress  or  accent  is  the 
sole  source  of  English  metre  (Study  of  English  Metrical  Law,  prefixt  to  his 
Amelia,  Lond.,  1878),  he  is  of  the  opinion  that  he  employs  it  illogically  to  divide 
time  into  isochronous  bars.  English  metres,  he  thinks,  do  not  aim  at  dividing 
time  into  equal  or  proportionate  lengths ;  they  aim  at  a  response  of  phrase  to 
phrase,  or  sound  to  sound.  "  Quantity,  therefore,  in  the  sense  of  lengths  of 
concrete  speech  markt  off  by  stresses,  is  obviously  very  different  from  quan- 
tity in  the  sense  of  equal  lengths  of  the  time  which  speech  occupies,  and  still 
more  from  the  measured  quantity  of  syllables,  giving  rise  to  feet  measured 
and  defined  by  the  length  and  number  of  syllables  they  consist  of."  (p.  237.) 
But  because  English  verse  sounds  are  not  confined,  like  those  of  Greek  and 
Latin,  to  a  single  proportion,  1  :  2,  and  are  not  likewise  fixt  in  quantity,  (the 
same  sounds  forming  sometimes  short,  sometimes  long  syllables,)  it  is  not  to 
be  inferrd  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  time-quantity  in  English  verse 
sounds.*  The  fact,  too,  that  rythm  frequently  depends  upon  silences  which 


*  That  it  takes  some  time  to  pronounce  English  words,  both  in  prose  and  verse 
is  self-evident,  and  every  one  who  doesn't  read  the  blank  verse  of  Shakspere's  lat- 
est plays  as  prose  (owing  to  its  baffling  variety  of  pause-substitutions,  its  great 
of  double-ending  and  run-on  lines,  and  its  complex  interplay  of  logic-,  sen- 
tence-, and  word-accent)  must  be  aware  of  at  least  one  cause  of  the  rythm  in  the  con- 
ess  that  each  whole  line  has  approximately  the  same  time-allotment.     So 
iiiantity  in  English  verse  we  can  unquestionably  feel;  (and  we  feel  it  in 
e  manner  that  we  find  the  way  about  our  homes  in  the  dark,  or  go  up 
and  down  familiar  flights  of  steps  without  looking, — we  know  just  when  we  are 
about  to  reach  the  top  or  bottom ;  so  we  detect  by  ear  lines  that  are  too  long  or  too 
)  whether  we  can  definitly  say  more  is  uncertain.    Mr.  Lanier's  application 
of  the  theory  that  the  printed  word  is  a  measure  of  rythm,  the  merest  tyro  in  pho- 
netics knows  to  be  fallacious  ;  for  it  is  only  by  chance  that  our  word-division,  as 
ordinarily  printed,  represents  the  words  as  actually  pronounct  in  the  verse.     But 
tho  we  cannot,  with  perfect  accuracy,  divide  the  time-allotment  of  each  whole  line 
into  equal  smaller  time-allotments,  the  musical  notation  possesses  so  many  points 
of   superiority  over  all  other  schemes,  that,  with  this  reservation,    it    has   been 
adopted  for  practical  school  use.    As  every  piece  of  music  is  interpreted  differently 
by  different  performers,  according  as  each  introduces  various  "holds,"  "rests,"  etc., 
etc.,  not  provided  for  in  the  notes,  so  every  verse,  according  to  this  notation,  is  sub- 
ject to  the  same  accidents  of  individual  taste  or  rythmical  feeling.    (The  selection  of 


32 

cannot  be  accented,  and  that  a  series  of  random  sound-units,  tho  accented 
regularly,  are  not  rythmical  unless  there  pre-exist  some  simple  harmonious 
time-relations  between  the  sound-units  themselves,  suggests  the  inference 
that  accent  is  not  the  sole  cause  of  English  verse.  "  This  misconception  has 
arisen  out  of  the  failure  to  discriminate  primary  rhythm  from  secondary 
rhythm."  (SIDNEY  LANIER,  Science  of  Eng.  Verse,  New  York,  1880.)  By 
primary  rythm  he  means  the  simple  pre-existing  time-relations  between  the 
sound-units  ;  and  by  secondary  rythm,  the  arrangement,  by  means  of  accent, 
of  this  primary  rythmic  material  into  groups  or  bars  (p.  103).  When  the 
rythmic  accent  recurs  at  that  interval  of  time  represented  by  three  units 
of  any  sort,  — no  matter  among  how  many  sounds  this  amount  of  time  may 
be  distributed,  —  we  have  the  effect  upon  the  ear  of  3-ry  thm  ;  by  four  units, 
that  of  4-rythm.  These  two  classes  of  secondary  rythm  comprise,  as  types, 
nearly  all  the  combinations  made  by  sound-units  in  English  verse  (p.  127). 
Applying,  then,  the  musical  notation  used  by  SCHMIDT  in  his  Introduction 
to  the  Rhythmic  and  Metric  of  the  Classical  Languages,  if  we  take  the  type  of 
Shakspere's  verse  to  be  a  line-group  of  five  bars,  each  of  the  typical  form 
A  (allowing  all  the  variations  of  written  music),  we  shall  have 

n  perhaps  a  more  scientifically  accurate  scheme  than  even 
ELLIS'S  improvement  on  the  conventional  definition  gives  us, 
and  also  one  more  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  English  blank  verse  viewd 
historically  as  a  variation  of  the  3-rythm  type  of  versification,  which,  from 
Anglo-Saxon  times  to  the  present  day,  has  been  used  by  English  poets  with 
an  almost  passionate  preference  over  the  other  type,  seen  in  Locksley  Hall 
and  in  the  classical  hexameters,  —  the  4-rythm  type.  The  following  scheme 
exhibits  a  modern  variation  of  this  3-rythm  type ;  it  is  also  the  most  ancient. 


II : 


E^IEj=pz=p=^rf5E5ES^^^^^p: 

~ -8- — b — a — b—  E=b--ft— zb— Ezb— ib— -bSrir^b; 


Half     a  league,   half    a  league,   half     a  league      on    -    ward. 

Hi 

Into        the       valley      of      death    rode  the  six     hundred. 

Cf.  SWINBURNE'S  Aialanta  in  Calydon,  and  W.  MORRIS'S  Love  is  Enough. 
Piers  Plowman  (1362),  "  who  was  the  first  that  observed  the  true  quantity  of 
our  verse  without  the  curiositie  of  rime,"  *  exhibits  the  moving  forward  of  the 
accent : — 

the  note  E  of  the  bass  cleff  in  the  following  examples  has  no  significance  ;  it  was 
only  takn  for  convenience.) 

*  FRANCIS  MERES,  Palladia  Tamia,  1598,  N.  Sh.  Soc.  Trans.,  TV.  Series,  1874, 
p.  156. 


33 


'  In  a     sdm    -    -    •    er     86*  -  son,  whan  soft  was     the   sdn  -  ne, 


shop    -   e 


shdp     -    -    e    w^r  -  e. 


In  Chaucer's  verse  we  pass  from  what  may  be  called  the  ancient  heroic 
verse  to  the  modern.  In  the  first  of  the  following  examples  observe  that  the 
types  of  Chaucer's  verse  and  of  Shakspere's  early  work  are  identical ;  in  the 
second,  notice  the  similarity  of  the  time-allotments  in  the  last  bar :  — 


--^T 

|  *  fi- 

~t      t- 

*             *-- 

—  H  1  — 

±3  —  *  —  ^ 

Q.  ^  1  1 
Whil  -  om, 

as       old 

-   e        sto  - 

i  —  ^  —  i  — 

ries     tell 

J  —  ^  1  !  _J 
•    en       us, 

There    was 

a         duk 

that  hight  - 

e       The 

-    se    -  us. 

Knighte's  Tale,  1 

3iron. 

What       is 

the       end 

of         stud 

-  y?        Let 

me     know. 

King. 

Why,  that 

to      know 

which  else 

we  should 

not    know. 

Biron. 

Things  hid 

andbarr'd, 

you  mean, 

from    com 

-  mon  sense? 

King. 

Ay,      that 

is        stud  • 

-y's      god  - 

like      rec 

-  om  -  pense. 

L.  L.  L.  i.  1.  55 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

_^±_ 

*         it-I 

-b  1  —  T- 

H—  —  h--tr 

1  —  £=5  —  f^—  J?  

SL  ^  1  L 

-V  1  L_ 

When    that  A   -   prill  -e       with     his  schowr  -  es      swoot  -  e 
The  drought  of  Marche  hath  perc  -  ed  to  the      root  -  e. 

Prolog.  C.  T.  1,  2. 

To  be     or        not      to         be,    that       is     the   question. 

Whe'th  -  er    'ti»        no  -  bier       in  the  mind      to  suffer 

The  slings    and        ar  -  rows      of  out  -     ra  -  geous  fortune, 
O'r          to    take  arms      a  -  gainst    a         sea     of      troubles. 

H.  iii.  I.  56. 

In  the  second  and  fourth  lines  the  first  bar  in  each  is  changd  to  the  form 
which  is  the  type  of  POE'S  Raven,  LONGFELLOW'S  Psalm 

Of  course  these  schemes 
rythmical  theme    upon 


of  Life,  EMERSON'S  Brahma,  etc. 
are  general  types    only   of  the 


which  the  poets  have  composed  the  melodious  structure  of  their  verse. 
It  would  be  absurd  to  read  Chaucer's  verses  without  their  rythmical  pause- 
substitutions,  as  it  would  be  to  imagine  Hamlet  following  rigidly  the  above 
scheme.  Shakspere,  we  have  seen,  as  he  grew  in  metrical  insight  and 


power,  .discarded  ryme,  and  by  an  immense  variety  of  time-allotments  in  each 
of  the  five  bars,  and  by  a  rythmical  disposition  of  word  and  logical  accent, 
created  a  music  of  his  own,  which  bore  but  little  superficial  resemblance  to  the 
regular  melody  of  the  Chaucerian  variation  of  the  3-rythm  type.  (See  above 
on  the  Verse  Tests.) 

Some  further  useful  hints  perhaps  may  be  got  from  PROF.  SKEAT'S 
paper  on  Alliterative  Metre  (in  the  Percy  Folio  MS.,  ed.  Hales  and  Furnivall, 
1868),  and  in  MR.  SYMOND'S  article  on  Milton's  BlankVerse,  in  the  Fortnightly 
Review,  December,  1874.  COLERIDGE'S  Preface  to  Christabel,  and  POE'S 
Rationale  of  Verse,  are  interesting  as  curiosities.  As  usual,  in  all  bibliograf- 
ical  notes,  however  slight,  (not  excepting  the  subject  of  English,)  the  "latest 
and  best "  work  is  by  a  German.  Aided  by  the  Old-English  publications 
of  the  London  societies,  DR.  J.  SCHIPPER,  in  his  Englische  Metrik,  lter  Theil, 
(Bonn,  1882,)  has  produced  the  most  scientific  and  comprehensive  history  of 
English  verse  that  has  yet  appeared.  The  part  now  publisht,  however,  only 
comes  down  to  Chaucer,  and  is  therefore  most  useful  to  students  of  Early 
English. 


Among  the  useful  books  on  the  abov  subjects  publisht  since  these 
notes  were  first  printed,  the  following  may  be  mentiond:  A  Handbook  of 
Poetics  for  Students  of  English  Verse.  F.  B.  GUMMERE,  Ph.  D.,  Boston,  Ginn 
&  Co.,  1885.  The  Prose  in  Shakspere's  Plays :  the  Rules  for  its  Use  and  the 
Assistance  that  it  gives  in  Understanding  the  Plays.  HENRY  SHARPE.  Paper 
read  before  New  Sh.  Soc.  London,  Dec.  11,  1885.  Elementarlmch  des  Ge- 
sprochenen  Englisch.  HENRY  SWEET.  Oxford,  Clarendon  Press,  1886.  A 
most  excellent  summary  of  the  main  features  of  London  spokn  English, 
with  text  and  glossary,  which,  tho  designd  for  German  beginners  in  Eng- 
lish, will  be  found  useful  by  those  who  know  but  little  German.  Students 
of  phonetics  who  read  German  may  consult  the  following  additional  w»rk3 
with  profit :  Die  Sprachlaute  im  Allgemeinen  und  Die  Laute  des  En^ischent 
Franzosischen,und  Deutschen  im  Besondern.  DR.  MORITZ  TRAUTMAI«N,  Leip- 
zig, 1884-85.  (Die  Warier  und  Sdtze  im  Allgemeinen  und  Die  Englischen,  Fran- 
zosischen,  und  Deutschen  Worter  und  Sdtze  im  Besondern,  announced  by  the 
same.)  Zur  Veranschaulichung  der  Lautbildung.  F.  TECHMER,  Leipzig,  1885 
(with  wall-chart). 

October,  1886. 


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